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^J 



THE COUNT 



Agenor de Gasparin. 



/ 



TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF TH! BOREL. 




J^o,J.llkJL 



'^ i879. ^J, 



NEW YORK: "' 

ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 
900 Bkoadwat, Cok. 20th Street. 



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TAB UJfrRARY 
Of CONOR ES 

WASHING^ 



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copyright, 1879, by 
Anson D. F. Randolph & Company. 



NEW YORK: 
EDWARD O. JENKINS, PRINTER, ROBERT RUTTER, BINDER, 

20 North William St. 84 Beekman St, 



Lfjf 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Introduction, 7 



CHAPTER I. 
Early Education, 15 

CHAPTER n. 
The Academy, 23 

CHAPTER HI. 
Public Life, 33 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Orator and Writer, • • • • 53 

CHAPTER V. 
The Man, 83 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Last Winter, 131 







(3) 



INTRODUCTION, 



INTRODUCTION. 



There are some men who have deserved well 
of their generation because of their courageous 
defense of just rights threatened or withheld, 
and their persistent devotion to the great cause 
of truth. The power of their words and writ- 
ings has served to strengthen anew the totter- 
ing foundations of the family or the faith, and 
with their feet firmly planted on immutable prin- 
ciples, they have toiled to dispel those clouds 
of passion which gather around us here below. 
It is they who have pointed out the road which 
leads above, and the heights humanity could 
scale, were it but willing to fulfill its glorious 
destiny. Conscientious and intelligent workmen, 
they have devoted their talents and consecrated 
their life to that labor whose faithful perform- 



8 Introduction. 

ance it was their duty to achieve. Their works 
are subject to criticism, and posterity will ratify 
or reverse the verdict of the critic. 

But the author himself, his inner life, his soul, 
and, in a word, his whole moral being — the fire 
at which all his torches have been lighted, and 
the fountain from which have flowed all those 
thoughts which have moved his hearers and his 
readers — form a subject for a study whose inter- 
est will be proportionate to the elevation of 
thought, and the extent of the influence wielded 
by the author during his life-time. 

The mission of Christianity is to arouse the 
world from that indifference under which it is 
perishing, and to place it on the road to indefi- 
nite self-culture ; the glory of Christianity lies 
in the fact that by it is rendered possible the 
creation of such characters as approach more 
nearly to that Ideal, which it has been the heart- 
felt desire of all of us, at some time or other, to 
resemble. If the Crown of Humanity is com- 
posed of those men of genius who have shown 
in the realm of science or art, its more precious 
treasure is to be found in these characters and 
lives which in every station of society and in 



Introduction. 9 

every century have been living witnesses of 
their Divine paternity. 

The work which is here presented to the pub- 
lic is based upon certain notes accurately tran- 
scribed by a trustworthy and reliable hand. 

It was the privilege of the author to be per- 
sonally acquainted with the Count Agenor de 
Gasparin, Spending a few days each year under 
his roof at Valleyres, and entertaining toward 
him the relations of a sincere friendship, he has 
had an opportunity to study his character — a 
task which was rendered the more easy by a 
habit of observation which a life of reflection 
and contact with all classes of society uncon- 
sciously gives. Although holding different views 
on ecclesiastical questions, the author has not 
written a single line without carefully guarding 
against the affectionate enthusiasm inspired by 
so beautiful a character. To flatter would be 
to overlook the humility of his hero and belittle 
his real greatness. A biography especially should 
be unequivocally true. 

Am I mistaken in thinking that there is any 
need for such a biography? It would seem to 



10 Introduction. 

me as if I were but discharging a just debt of 
my country in rescuing from utter oblivion the 
memory of those crowds which during the whole 
winter gathered at Geneva around the eloquent 
Chairman of the Conference, and in collecting 
together the testimonials of admiration and 
homage which have appeared from day to day 
among us, seven years after his death, in an age 
alike careless and forgetful. Moreover, in this 
land, where the melody of a true greatness is 
drowned in the noisy discord of the demagogue, 
it is a salutary work as well as a simple act of 
justice, to dwell for a little while on the services 
which this good knight has rendered to every 
just cause, and to present to the world the ex- 
ample of a real Christian. 

Encouraged at all times in his work by the 
charm which pervades the memory of his gifted 
and loving friend, the author has received great- 
er encouragement still from another thought, 
the hope of arousing the emulation of the bril- 
liant youth of France and Switzerland whose 
weakness, indifference, and vices threaten to 
ruin the soul and destroy the mind. 

This life was not that of an unpractical dream- 



Introduction. i i 

er, but a life interested in the great questions 
of the day, in the triumphs and defeats of his 
country ; a Hfe worried by poHtical struggles, 
worldly temptations, and the conflicts of the 
Church ; and, moreover, a life which found its 
chief pleasure in the simple joys of the fireside. 
Shall it have been lived in vain ? Nay, shall 
it not rather serve to encourage every one in 
whose breast the fires of purer desires have not 
been wholly quenched ? 

Oh, how much sorrow and sadness would be 
spared the wives and mothers, if those hearts 
which are dearest to them, instead of wasting 
themselves on trifles, would become fired with 
a more lofty ambition ! How many souls would 
be saved which are now lost because they resist 
that Divine voice which would tell them of the 
sterner joys of duty ! What a future, what a 
greatness is reserved for that people who shall 
number among her sons many citizens of a char- 
acter and moral elevation like unto that which 
belonged to him whose portrait we are about 

to sketch ! 

Th. Borel. 
Geneva, November, 1878. 



EARLY EDUCATION. 



CHAPTER I. 

EARLY EDUCATION. 

The Count Ag6nor de Gasparin was born at 
Orange, July 12, 18 10, and belonged to the 
Corsican family of Gasparins, of which the elder 
branch became extinct by the death of the 
Count Luce de Gaspari-Belleval. The younger 
branch was established in France with Ornano 
toward the middle of the sixteenth century, and 
still retains in its possession at Cape Corse, the 
" tower of Gasparin " which was bequeathed to 
it by its head. The church of Morsiglia con- 
tains the tombs of many of its ancestors. By 
his grandmother he was descended in a direct 
line from Jean de Serres, royal historian under 
Henry IV., and on both the maternal and pa- 
ternal side his ancestors had followed the pro- 
fession of arms. His father* had also at one 
time embraced this calling. Successively prefect, 



* Died in 1862. 

(15) 



i6 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

Peer of France, Minister of the Interior, and 
Member of the Academy of Sciences, the Count 
Adrien de Gasparin was one of the most dis- 
tinguished statesmen France has ever possessed ; 
a man who combined indomitable energy with 
a stern sense of justice, a singular sweetness of 
disposition, with a rare capacity for work. His 
scientific writings are authority. The agricul- 
turists of his own and other countries erected in 
1864 a statue of him at Orange, his native city, 
as a tribute to his services in their department 
of science. 

He married Mile. Adele de Vaunant, a wom- 
an earnest, courageous, and sympathetic, and 
at the same time a sincere and simple Christian. 

Up to the age of twelve, Agenor de Gasparin 
lived with his brother Paul* at Orange, where 
he was pursuing a wholesome course of study, 
whose monotony was varied by outdoor amuse- 
ments — riding on horseback and swimming long 
distances in the river Aygues — for which he had 



* The Count Paul de Gasparin, formerly Deputy and 
Mayor of Orange, followed with distinction the scientific 
pursuits of his father. 



Early Education. 17 

a passionate fondness. After this severe physi- 
cal exercise it was his habit to refresh himself 
with a raw onion and a piece of bread, and of 
these simple viands his hunger made short work. 
Fascinated with stoical ideas, he would, for the 
purpose of inuring himself to pain, put pebbles 
in his shoes, and walk in this way as nimbly and 
as long a time as he could, and the greater the 
pain so much the more was he pleased.* 

Against this clear and already rosy sky of 
childhood there stands out in bold relief the 
figure of a man, in the prime of life, of a poetic 
temperament, generous and chivalrous, M. Au- 
guste de Gasparin, their favorite uncle, who was 
accustomed to accompany and encourage his 
nephews on these Spartan expeditions, and their 
hardy bravery increased his affection for them. 

The two brothers had for a tutor M. Schaeffer, 
an Alsacian,and a finished scholar,whose academ- 
ic learning, illumined by the practical teachings 
of the father of his pupils, put into these young 



* By a singular coincidence, his future brother-in-law 
and she who was to be his wife, were doing the same at 
this time at Rivage, and were modestly styling themselves 
" the Hercules of the North." 



1 8 Count Agienor de Gasparin. 

heads only right ideas — nothing to unlearn later, 
as happens to many people. 

In the autumn, the family were in the habit 
of spending a few weeks at Pomerol, at the foot 
of the Alps. Of this, as of all the happy hours 
of his childhood, Agenor de Gasparin has re- 
tained a vivid and tender memory. It is a more 
hilly country than Orange, and one may almost 
live in the open air. The long walks and Alpine 
excursions gave him, as a child, an insight into 
the poetry of nature, whose charms and pleasures 
few men have appreciated better than he. 

Whether studying or engaging in outdoor 
sports and exercise, the pure influence of a 
mother, whose sole ambition was that her sons 
might grow up earnest and virtuous men, at all 
times surrounded Agenor, to whom was given, 
in addition, the familiar advice of a wise and 
affectionate father, and the fleeting pains and 
pleasures of a happy home. 

Each evening the father, holding his two boys 
on his knee, would sing to them the old song, 
" Marlborough is Marching away to the War." 
At the last two lines, 

" The good-nights said. 
Every one goes to sleep," 



Early Education. 19 

the nurse would come to lead the two brothers 
away to bed. Hence, when they saw that the 
fatal couplet was coming, " Not the good-nights ! 
not the good-nights ! " they would shout with 
one voice, and soon sleep made short work of 
their childish grief. 

These early years made a deep impression on 
the heart of Agenor de Gasparin, whose full in- 
fluence was to be felt later on in life. An allu- 
sion to them may be found in his own beautiful 
book, " The Family," where he says : " My eyes 
are turned towards a time which will never re- 
turn — towards familiar and well-loved ones which 
I shall see no more on earth. Never can I for- 
get that library of my father in which we, as 
children, have passed so many happy hours, go- 
ing from the electrical-machine to the beautiful 
books of engravings, rumaging the shelves which 
contained the works of travel and history, and 
which we were allowed to handle, and thus gath- 
ering together memories which come again, after 
so many years, to awaken the best feelings of 
our natures."^ But this system of home edu- 



* " Rights of the heart," p. 82, 



20 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

cation was not in sympathy with the times. 
Their father, moreover, foreseeing for his sons a 
public career, wished to bring them at an early 
age in contact with the world. 

When he was twelve years old, Agenor left 
his father's house, in company with his brother, 
to go to Paris, whither M. and Mme. Gasparin 
accompanied their two sons, in order that they 
might leave them there. 



THE ACADEMY. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE ACADEMY. 

The Academy Louis le Grand, which Agenor 
de Gasparin entered with his brother, was for 
him the entrance to the world, and one, indeed, 
which appeared very dark and gloomy, and of 
which he used to speak with great bitterness in 
after-life. He always looked upon academies — 
that is, boarding academies — as a cross between 
a prison and a convent, as the life of the bar- 
racks applied to study, and what is still worse, 
as demoralizing and vicious in their tendencies. 
Intelligent men, who see the truth because they 
look beneath the surface, have given the same 
testimony. In place of the snug family nest, 
here were the cold and naked walls of a monas- 
tery ; instead of lessons made easy by intelligent 
instruction, the inflexible routine of a regiment. 
Hearty and outdoor exercise was replaced by 
a prim and formal walk through the streets of 
Paris. If contact with students of one's own 

(23) 



24 Count Agenor de G^sparin. 

age imparts to some boys a manliness it were 
impossible to acquire under the family roof, 
and smooth out the peculiarities of their char- 
acters, it too often happens that this is done at 
the cost of much suffering" and loss of refine- 
ment. In Agenor's case, the suffering endured 
was real and lasting, but instead of blunting, it 
served to render more acute his sense of deli- 
cacy and good-breeding. 

What complete and perfect happiness was his 
when during the all too short vacations, he came 
home, and was able to renew once more those 
outdoor sports in which he excelled. The favor- 
ite uncle, who had made his nephew a fearless 
horseman and excellent pedestrian, always had 
ready some unbroken horse for his service. Too 
soon, alas ! did the hour come for his return to 
Paris, and the gloom of the prison succeeded 
this sunny life. 

There is in the academies of France an unfor- 
tunate personage, a sort of subordinate overseer, 
whose duty it is to preserve order as best he can 
during the hours of study and recreation. The 
subject of the insults, wrath, and conspiracies 
of the pupils, who regard him as an enemy, 



The Academy. 25 

against whom all malicious practices are fair, 
he has been dubbed *' pawn." This species of 
gaoler, the more to be pitied as his duty is 
wholly one of suppression, will arouse at first 
the sympathies of the new pupil. He does not, 
for a time, engage in the pranks played against 
the " pawn," and in after years his recollection 
of this poor drudge places him among those 
unfortunate beings who are cut off from all sun- 
light and condemned to live in a damp and 
unwholesome atmosphere — the Pariahs of the 
civilized world, who are entitled to our deepest 
sympathy. 

During his stay at the academy, Ag6nor made 
more than one visit home. It was then that he 
began to value the affection showered upon him 
by his family — an affection, as his after-life goes 
to show, which neither made him self-conceited 
nor less manly. 

In 1 83 1 — he was then in his twenty-first 
year — the cholera suddenly broke out in Paris, 
and in its fearful ravages carried off all classes 
of the population. Some of the private schools 
closed, and it would seem to be a time for the 
students of the academies to return to their 



26 Count Ag:^nor de Gasparin. 

families. In fact, some parents did send for 
their children to. come home. Madame Gas- 
parin, to whom her husband had given per- 
mission to recall her sons, allowed them to re- 
main in their rooms at Paris. " If young people 
expect to become men," she said, " they must 
learn not to flee from danger." The Christian 
mother knew into whose hands she had commit- 
ted her most precious treasure ; the Spartan 
knew how to train the athlete. 

Let us return to the academy. Ag6nor, who 
had graduated with high honor, pursued several 
branches of study, but devoted himself espe- 
cially to the study of law, a knowledge of which 
he believed to be indispensable to any one who 
intended to enter public life. 

This was in France the brilliant period of the 
revival of letters and intellectual energy. After 
the wars of the Empire and the suppression of 
free speech under the Despotism, a more liberal 
life, quickened by the teachings of illustrious 
professors, was flowing in the veins of the new 
generation. An enthusiastic band of youth was 
crowding around Royer-Collard, Guizot, Cousin, 



The Academy. 27 

and Villemain, the echo of whose voices was 
heard even in the more remote provinces. The 
works of Casimir Delavigne, Lamartine, and 
Victor Hugo were in the hands of every stu- 
dent. The State was agitated by the skirmish- 
es, the hand-to-hand struggles, and fierce bat- 
tles which the Classic and Romantic school were 
at that time waging. It was a literary duel 
which hid from view another struggle, more 
wide-spread, less noisy, and entirely different ; 
but none the less formidable — the struggle be- 
tween the Jesuitical and Reactionary party on 
the one side, and those modern tendencies to- 
ward a fuller liberty and a wider dissemination 
of knowledge. 

Gasparin was wholly in sympathy with this 
age of energy and enthusiasm. His earnest 
nature and independent spirit drew warmth and 
nourishment from the heated atmosphere in 
which he lived, and it was a habit with him 
to commit to memory, from time to time, the 
" Messeniennes " of .Casimir Delavigne, the 
most beautiful odes of Victor Hugo, and the 
Iambic verses of Barbier. He himself used to 
admit that the rather obscure poetry of Lamar- 
tine had, perhaps, less fascination for him. 



28 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

He followed with a deep interest the political 
debates, and there was no greater treat for him 
than to be present at a session of the Chamber 
on the occasion of a stormy discussion. 

On the breaking out of the revolution of 
1830, when he — as every intelligent youth of 
France — foresaw in the struggle a question of 
life and death for his country, he distinguished 
himself as a member of the National Guard. 
On one occasion an incessant fire, issuing from 
the house of a bourgeois, was pouring down 
on his battalion. Almost overcome with heat, 
singed with powder, and infuriated by the re- 
sistance offered them, and the sight of the dead 
and wounded, the National Guards forced their 
way in, and were preparing to put to death 
every one they found. It was at this time that 
Gasparin took upon himself the defense of the 
prisoners, and covering them with his own body, 
refused to give them up until he had delivered 
them into the hands of the provisional govern- 
ment. These three days had done their work. 
Closing his ears to the angry din of the Forum, 
the young student finished his law studies, and 
took out his diploma as attorney. It was the 



The Academy. 29 

crowning point of a long course of profound 
study, but it was not the end. He will never 
plead. The high position of his father opened 
pursuits more congenial to his tastes. 

Having once entered upon his public career, 
his talents were destined to play an important 
part. He had foreseen this, and aspired to the 
position. His metrical translations from the 
Greek poets, and his success at the academy, 
led him to form a just estimate of his own 
abilities, and the young man was sensible that 
the wings of ambition were opening. 



PUBLIC LIFE. 



CHAPTER III. 

PUBLIC LIFE. 

His public career gave to the Count Agenor 
de Gasparin a profound knowledge of men and 
practical affairs. 

He entered public life on a mission of the 
highest importance. It was in 1833, and he was 
at that time twenty-three. The city of Lyons, 
of which his father was prefect, had just risen 
in insurrection ; messages could no longer be 
sent to or received from it, and fiery spirits, 
everywhere laboring under the most intense ex- 
citement, were breathing forth lively threats 
against the Government. France was not yet a 
network of railways, and communication, at all 
times slow, was now seriously interrupted. It 
had become necessary at any price to send some 
secret instructions to the prefect of Lyons, and 
it was only possible to reach this seat of the re- 
bellion by traveling through departments either 
openly hostile or of doubtful loyalty. M. Thiers, 

(33) 



34 Count Agienor de Gasparin. 

at that time Minister of the Interior, summoned 
into his presence the son of the prefect, and 
asked him if he would be wiUing to undertake 
so dangerous a journey. 

Gasparin's reply was contained in a single 
word, "Yes, and start immediately." Every 
moment of delay increased the danger of the 
situation. He rode post-haste day and night, 
at first in a light buggy, and when that broke 
down, in a cart, his dispatches in his breast, and 
his pistols in his hand. He reached Lyons, 
however, when order had been restored and the 
worst was over. The unflinching and collected 
courage of the prefect had quelled the riot. 

What are usually called favoring circum- 
stances, and the advantages arising from an 
assured position in the world, exercise less in- 
fluence in shaping a life than is usually thought. 
The temptations peculiar to prosperity must be 
overcome by unremitting strife, or it will work 
the ruin of him whose inheritance it is. 

These early years of freedom in the spring- 
time of life, too often wasted in frivolous and 
questionable pursuits, were, in the case of Gas- 



Public Life. 35 

parin, only an opportunity for the continuation 
of those studies which related to practical life, 
to diplomacy, and political economy. He first 
published, on the subject of amortization, a 
pamphlet which excited comment because of 
the wisdom of the principles laid down and the 
maturity of judgment it exhibited, which one 
would say could only have been formed by long 
experience. Soon after this, when France was 
debating the advantages and dangers of the 
colonization of Algeria — a conquest of the pre- 
vious reign — at a time when leading minds 
were divided on a question of such vast impor- 
tance, Gasparin evinced a remarkable foresight 
and a lofty patriotism in his pamphlet, " Ought 
France to retain Algiers?" 

His intelligence, his rising reputation, and 
passion for work, quickly brought him into 
public notice. In 1836 he was appointed Head 
of the Cabinet of the Minister of the Interior, 
and in 1837 he entered as Master of Requests 
into the Council of State. 

This was the period of his marriage. He had 
married Mile. Valerie Boissier,* who belonged 



* Mile. Boissier had passed an entire winter at Paris. 
The two families of Gasparin and Boissier led the same 



36 Count Ag:enor de Gasparin. 

to one of the first families of Geneva. His 
book, " Marriage from a Christian Point of 
View," points out the real grandeur of married 
life, whose poetry and beauty it was permitted 
him to realize. This earth has rarely seen the 
union of two natures so well adapted to one 
another. Both were lovers of the ideal and the 
true, and both were equally efficient in the 
practical affairs of life, although the wife was 
of a dreamy and the husband of a positive 
character. Yet never was a union of two souls 
more close, more complete, or more happy. 

Ah ! had the world but seen that love more 
closely, it could better understand the grief of 
that aged widow, whose faith was not sunk in 
the shipwreck, but whose heart has received a 
death-wound. She who, after thirty-four years 
of unspeakable felicity, was cast down from this 
summit of earthly happiness and crushed by the 
fall, has shut herself up with her Bible for her 
sole companion, and finding comfort in the lam- 
entations of the broken-hearted, patiently waits. 



kind of life and moved in the same society. The future 
husband and wife quarreled only once. " I acquit myself 
of all share in it," said M. de Gasparin, when relating the 
incident. 



Public Life. 37 

In 1842, the Count Agenor de Gasparin placed 
before the voters of Corsica his acceptance of 
the nomination for the Chamber of Deputies. 
The political parties, which are very violent in 
Corsica, do not hesitate to have recourse to 
means which are anything but legitimate. Party 
feeling there runs at times so high as to lead 
even to assassination. The shot-gun makes 
short work of a political foe, and this candidate 
was not without enemies. 

On the day of the election, Mme. de Gas- 
parin, fearing a victory more than a defeat, was 
alone in her parlor, anxiously awaiting the re- 
sult of the vote, when a loud knock at the door 
rudely interrupted her thoughts. Opening it, 
she found herself face to face with a man of 
gigantic stature, whose features were partially 
concealed by a huge black beard. It was a re- 
lation — a Gasparin who had come down from 
the mountains. He did not enter, but standing 
in the doorway, contented himself with saying, 
" Do not be afraid " — then going through the 
motions of aiming a gun — "if they kill your 
husband, we will avenge him." 

A pleasant prospect for a young wife. 



38 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

A magnificent speech on slavery, relative to 
the right of search, marked the occasion of 
taking his seat in the Chamber as Deputy from 
Bastia. It was an unexpected flash of indignant 
eloquence and generous pity which assigned 
him a front rank among the orators of the day. 
This position he maintained, and each session 
beheld increased eloquence. As soon as he as- 
cended the Tribune, there was a deep silence. 
One after another, the Deputies, leaving their 
seats, would descend into the semicircle, in 
order to hear better. The interruptions, con- 
tradictions, and questions of his opponents, in- 
stead of silencing him, only served to increase 
his courage. These were to him what the 
whistling of balls, the roar of cannon, and the 
crash of battle is to the tried soldier. 

During the four years of his parliamentary 
life, he attacked every iniquitous practice, de- 
nounced every abuse of power, and aided every 
advance toward freedom. Religious liberty 
among the rest had not a more intrepid de- 
fender than he. 

His independence, pure character, and cath- 
olic spirit won for him the respect of all his 



Public Life. 39 

colleagues. Unwilling to identify himself with 
any one party, it was in obedience to his con- 
science, which always guided his sympathies, 
that he would vote to-day with his enemies of 
yesterday. His impartiality, recognized alike by 
friend and foe, gave his judgment great weight 
even among those whose convictions compelled 
them to oppose his measures. 

While he was a Deputy a serious quarrel 
arose between the two editors-in-chief of two 
of the most influential journals in Paris. They 
were about to repair to the Bois de Boulogne 
to obtain satisfaction by a duel, when one of 
the seconds proposed referring the whole mat- 
ter to Gasparin. The proposition was accepted, 
and the antagonists promised to faithfully abide 
by whatever decision might be rendered. Gas- 
parin, after examining the case, pronounced his 
verdict, and the two adversaries straightway 
shook hands. 

Everybody knows that in any deliberative as- 
sembly there are always a certain number of 
active working members who are called more 
frequently than others to serve on committees. 
Gasparin had his full share of such labor. The 



40 Count Ag^nor de Gasparin. 

variety of his knowledge, the clearness and trust- 
worthiness of his judgment, and his capacity for 
work, especially qualified him for those tasks 
which during the session left him but little 
leisure. The Deputy gave up all his time, sac- 
rificed all personal convenience, and exhausted 
his strength for the sake of duty. In the even- 
ing alone would he take a rapid walk along the 
streets of Paris in company with a wife, who, 
like him, loved the woods, the mountains, 
the green fields, the pure sunlight, and broad 
stretches of country. 

In 1846, the hour of liberty was ushered in 
for him. The firmness of his principles, united 
to his strength of character, would not permit 
this defender of every wise step toward a more 
complete freedom, to become a candidate ac- 
ceptable to the Government. The Clerical party, 
strong everywhere, saw in him one of its most 
formidable enemies. 

Gasparin had endeavored to form in the Cham- 
ber a party whose object should be the purifica- 
tion of the ballot, and who should refuse to 
solicit the ministers in the name of the electors, 
even at the risk of not being re-elected. The 



Public Life. 41 

party thus formed lived but a short time, and 
he, still faithful to principle, was not slow to 
see that all hope for re-election was gone in 
those smaller districts which were entirely- 
wrapped up in the pursuit of the petty ambi- 
tions, and which were capable of becoming in- 
terested in nothing which did not directly con- 
cern their little town. Hence, in 1846, he secured 
his nomination as Deputy from Paris. He did 
not for a moment think of refraining from giv- 
ing free expression to his convictions ; and in a 
ringing speech, which was loudly applauded, he 
outlined the policy he should pursue. But he 
was not re-elected. 

A project for a long time fondly contemplated 
— a journey through the East — was about to be 
put into execution, when some peculiar circum- 
stances of a domestic nature, caused its post- 
ponement for several months. After a winter 
of retirement, sweet alike to husband and wife, 
in the family manor at Valleyres, after a happy 
summer spent in the midst of his family, M. and 
Mme. Gasparin set out in the month of Septem- 
ber, 1847, for Greece and Egypt, leaving France, 
apparently, in the enjoyment of perfect peace. 



42 Count Ag^nor de Gasparin. 

In March, 1848, the news reached them at 
Cairo of the revolution which overturned the 
throne of Louis Philippe. Every French col- 
ony which only the day before was Orleanist, 
immediately assumed the red cockade. M. de 
Gasparin, after having addressed an open and 
sympathetic letter to the exiled monarch, sent 
in to the Council of State his resignation as 
Master of Requests. Then he shut himself up 
in the desert of Sinai. 

The unbroken solitude and unfettered life, 
the view of that mountain which at one time 
trembled in the presence of the Most High, 
and the sight of those vast tracts of sand fur- 
rowed by the passage of an ungrateful and 
rebellious people, inspired in these two young, 
enthusiastic and Christian souls a feeling of pro- 
found reverence and holy meditation. Each 
evening when the tent was pitched, the Bible 
which accompanied the travelers everywhere on 
their journey, was opened under the broad vault 
of heaven, whose glittering constellations de- 
clare the glory of God. 

On Sunday, no matter what might be the 
spot where a halt had been made the day be- 



Public Life. 43 

fore, the little company rested and engaged in 
worship. The Arabs who formed the escort 
would gather around M. de Gasparin and listen 
to some parable from the Gospels, or a selec- 
tion from the Old Testament. Sometimics they 
halted on a green oasis, but more frequently at 
the foot of a mountain which sprang out of the 
desert, and which had seen Mosea pass by. 

Our travelers examined Palestine with great 
care and interest, and when recalled to Europe 
by political events and a family affliction, they 
took up their residence in Switzerland, passing 
the summers at Yalleyres, in the canton of 
Vaud, at the foot of the Jura Mountains, and 
spending the winters at Rivage, near Geneva, 
upon the borders of the lake, and in full view 
of Mount Blanc. 

M. de Gasparin loved Switzerland, not only for 
its own sake, but on account of the friends he had 
there, and the atmosphere of freedom which per- 
vades that country. His resolution to live there 
was not formed hastily and without deliberation, 
nor under the influence of a first impression. He 
canvassed, with the unbiased judgment of a mind 
master of itself, the advantages and disadvan- 



44 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

tages which would result from such a change of 
residence, and consented to remain only after 
the most careful consideration of the whole case. 
His friends in France have severely censured 
this decision, which they most unjustly styled 
the desertion of his country. Never did he love 
France better than at this time, where his at- 
tendance at numerous synods and frequent vis- 
its to his family called him. Never did he serve 
her more faithfully than during that period of 
his life, which these disappointed friends were 
pleased to term his exile. 

The various attempts to entice him av/ay from 
Switzerland, which became more earnest as the 
fame of the orator and writer increased, were 
baffled by a determination which neither France 
nor Vaud had reason to regret. 

Were we to attempt to give the motives 
which prompted this resolution, it would re- 
veal one of his most prominent characteristics. 
Never did it occur to him that it was necessary 
to make any justification whatever of an action 
of whose rectitude he had not the slightest 
doubt. 

We Protestants recognize a power higher 



Public Life. 45 

than that of pope- or priest. M. de Gasparin, 
who admitted the authority of neither the one 
nor the other, frequently had occasion to defend 
himself against impertinent interference with his 
personal affairs. A born enemy of slavery, he 
claimed that he was free, free alike to choose 
his mode of life and his mode of work. He 
conceded to no one the right to govern his 
conscience, and he continually and severely cen- 
sured that system which arrogates to itself the 
prerogative of assigning arbitrary tasks upon its 
members. Such a wanton usurpation, which is 
rebuked by the Bible, and which is an infringe- 
ment on the moral law and an insult to the in- 
dividual, he relentlessly opposed. His earnest 
protest is contained in his book, '^ The Moral 
Liberty." 

" False duties ! " he exclaims ; " our lives will 
be overburdened with them if we give them the 
slightest heed, and not only overburdened, but 
rendered servile. No longer will we act freely, 
and soon we will become mere machines. More- 
over, since life is too short to accomplish every- 
thing, let us not punctiliously fulfill these arti- 
ficial obligations at the cost of neglecting our 



46 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

real duties. These former are insatiable in their 
demands. ' You must do this/ they say. ' In 
this direction your path lies ; this is what we 
expect of you. If you fail here, you will excite 
amazement and give rise to reproach.' More- 
over, these false ideas pervert our sense of sin, 
and weighed down with arbitrary commands 
and maledictions, we walk with lagging foot- 
steps. It is no longer the elastic gait of the 
willing servants of truth, but the shuffling pace 
of the convict who marches under the lash. 
Fortunate is he in whom such nauseating slave- 
ry shall not have bred at last disgust for duty 
itself." 

Whenever there arrived at Valleyres some one 
of the Papal bulls thundering forth command 
or censure, he would reply to it with a courteous 
firmness. But the exhibition of such intoler- 
ance pained him, as it did all around him. 

If the man and the Christian is not the com- 
plete master of his work, yet, at least, it is his 
privilege to choose the manner and the field of 
his labor ; and, above all, his place of residence. 
These are his inalienable rights. On the last 
day God will judge only the work of each one. 



Public Life. 47 

His right proven, let us now analyze the mo- 
tives of Gasparin in moving to Switzerland. He 
himself has expressed them in the book quoted 
above. Speaking of Paris, he says : '' They talk 
and write much. They discuss, criticise, and 
judge. The current of ideas is rapid, more 
rapid, perhaps, than deep, and it remains to be 
seen whether it is always easy to avoid being 
carried away by it. It were well if here and 
there this current of fashionable literature and 
prevailing opinion were stemmed by an original 
thought, if the despotic rule of reigning parties 
were thwarted by individual opposition. Or, 
rather, if individuals, the men of genius if you 
wish, would refuse to cast themselves headlong 
into this seething social cauldron. Give them 
a short season of seclusion from the world, and 
of communion with themselves, with nature, 
and with God. Such communion, as I have 
learned from experience, is out of the question 
at Paris. It is almost impossible to be one's 
self there. One fondly flatters himself that he 
is independent because he attacks one party, 
and it entirely escapes his notice that he is sim- 
ply obeying the opposition. In politics, in re- 



48 Count Agi^nor de Gasparin. 

ligion, in philosophy, the opposing parties are 
drawn up in rank and file ready for active war- 
fare." 

^' How often have I thanked God when cir- 
cumstances have permitted me to live in the 
country, removed far from the foul ahd heated 
atmosphere of party hate, in the performance 
of wholesome and simple tasks." " There are 
some things which I could never have written 
had I not been sitting before the little rustic 
table in my summer house, where there was 
wafted to me on the wings of the health-giving 
breeze the odor of the fir-tree and the fragrance 
of the new-mown hay. This it was which gave 
me renewed strength and courage." * The un- 
healthy excitement of such a life as that at Paris 
had not escaped the notice of Gasparin. 

Cheerfulness of disposition, and a symmetri- 
cal intellectual development, are two such nec- 
essary conditions for the attainment of self- 
knowledge, that in their absence man rarely 
learns to know either himself or the full extent 



* "Moral Liberty," Vol. ii., "Large Cities," pp. 303- 
309. 



Public Life. 49 

of his powers. Had Agenor de Gasparin al- 
lowed himself to be drawn into the whirlpool 
of Parisian life, that individuality which was his 
chief charm would never have ripened into the 
full fruit. The author would never have written 
the books he did, for the whole current of his 
thought and feeling would have been changed. 
The unconstrained mode of living in free Switzer- 
land, and outdoor life amid the invigorating 
mountain breezes and under the blue and un- 
bounded heavens, were as great a necessity to 
him, as the simple joys of the fireside, the lov- 
ing family circle, and the union of two souls in 
one. It was the realization of such joys as these 
which has inspired his book, " The Family." 

Since his marriage he had spent nine years in 
public life in France. Compare the work of 
these nine years with that of any nine years 
of his subsequent life. From 1848 to 1857 he 
has struggled almost alone under the enormous 
weight of ecclesiastical questions in the "Ar- 
chives of Christianity." He has successively 
written : " The Bible Defended," etc., " Inno- 
cent HI.," "The Schools of Doubt," "Words 
of Truth," "The True Happiness," "Moral 



50 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

Liberty," " The Question of NeucMtel," " The 
Tables Turned," and " After the Peace." From 
1857 to date, " Equality," "The Family," ''The 
Outlook of the Present Time," "The Uprising 
of a Great People," and " America before Eu- 
rope." This list omits the various lectures to 
which we owe " Luther," " The Good Old 
Times," " Conscience," and " The Family Ene- 
my," and lastly, "The Declaration of War," 
"The Neutrality of Alsace," "An Appeal to 
Patriotism and Good Sense," and " France," 
the highest expression of the author's patriot- 
ism. There yet remain several works to be 
published, and he had three or four in pro 
jection. Has the harvest been sufficiently 
abundant, and has the workman been faithful ? 

To those cogent reasons which detained him 
in Switzerland, and which he himself has taken 
care to make public, we must add one not gen 
erally known. God, in overruling a family afflic 
tion, had assigned to M. and Mme. Gasparin 
their place in Switzerland, where they were 
henceforth to be occupied with the perform- 
ance of those duties which He in His Provi- 
dence should lay upon them. 



THE ORATOR AND WRITER. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE ORATOR AND WRITER. 

Politics, history, ethics, and the Gospel have 
all in turn occupied the attention of the Count 
de Gasparin. In all these pursuits, various as 
they were, he devoted himself without reserve 
to the highest ends — justice, truth, liberty, the 
suppression of slavery, the protection of the 
weak, the defense of the oppressed, the recov- 
ery of the lost. All have had a claim upon 
him, and all have found him, sword in hand, 
ready at his post, which in his case was the ros- 
trum, lecture hall, book, and newspaper. Al- 
ways ready to fight on every battle-field, he has 
been a man of battle, and yet, paradoxical as it 
may seem, he has been in a no less degree a 
man of peace. A moment's reflection serves to 
unriddle the paradox. Righteous war can alone 
lead to the true peace. 

As a man of battle he spent his life in com- 
bating what was false and wrong, in contradict- 

(53) 



54 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

ing public opinion. Could the life of a Chris- 
tian, occupied with the great interest of human- 
ity, be aught else than a battle ? A battle against 
doubt and sin. A battle, fought in the Chamber 
of Deputies, in the Synods of France and Swit- 
zerland against black and white slavery, against 
socialism and Romanism, against the corruption 
of the ballot-box, against rationalism, mysticism, 
and Mormonism. A battle waged in behalf 
of the Bible, the family, freedom of conscience, 
and the oppressed. Such was his life. " The 
trumpet of Jesus never sounds retreat," he used 
to say, and his march was always forward. No ; 
his life could be naught else than a stern con- 
flict in this century of torpedoes, drawn swords, 
and cannon — fit symbols of those violent pas- 
sions which have from time to time shaken the 
Old and the New World. It could be naught else 
in a century of decided materialistic tendencies 
when the discoveries of science linking into 
closer union the nations of the earth, and open- 
ing to the avarice of mankind avenues of self- 
gratification heretofore unknown, have served 
primarily to increase the thirst for pleasure, to 
intensify fleshly lusts and appetites, and to be- 



The Orator and Writer. 55 

little all those nobler instincts which raise man 
above the level of the brute. 

A complete analysis of his works would ex- 
ceed the limits to which this study must be 
confined. We must rest content with simply 
pointing out those traits which characterized 
him as a writer. 

The Count Agenor de Gasparin was a man 
of principle, and with him principle was the 
truth— that stamp of our divine paternity, that 
chain which binds us to Heaven. Always and 
everywhere did he search for principles. No 
matter what might be the subject he was treat- 
ing, he always studied it in the light of un- 
changeable truth, and always with inflexible 
logic followed out to the end its legitimate 
consequences. 

Absolute truth alone satisfied him. Blot out 
from the soul all knowledge of absolute truth, and 
the integrity of principles will disappear. Such 
knowledge he found in those eternal and im- 
mutable laws which the Creator has engraven 
on our conscience, that inner witness : he found 
it in the Bible, whose plenary inspiration his 



56 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

pure soul and inquisitive mind accepted. When 
the feet are planted on such foundations the 
head is not turned with every wind of doctrine. 
We admire principles, but are careful to em- 
brace only those which are compatible with cer- 
tain existing institutions we dare not overthrow. 
No one to-day has the courage to venture on 
the full sea relying simply on a principle as the 
mariner relies on the star and his compass, but 
we timidly coast along the shore of facts. It is 
not in this way that a Christopher Columbus is 
made. 

Let us now turn from the general outlines 
of his portrait thus rapidly sketched to the de- 
tails. 

It was his habit of positive and emphatic 
affirmation — which is in reality nothing else 
than the expression of an absolute truth — which 
cost him the censure of his enemies, and at 
times even of his friends. But this was no 
habit of arbitrary assertion, for he possessed 
that light which, permitting neither hesitation 
nor doubt to cloud his thoughts, clearly lit up 
from the beginning the goal toward which he 
was advancing ; and so clear and intuitive has 



The Orator and Writer. 57 

been his insight into those problems whose so- 
lution the future alone held, that in two or three 
of his books the author has become a prophet 
and forerunner of his times. 

Such qualities in the eyes of many men have 
their disadvantages. The inflexibility of his 
principles forbade him at times from yielding 
to the emergencies of an occasion, from a tem- 
porary compromise with an evil state of affairs, 
from the employment of specious and cautiously 
worded language. Although the tones of his 
eloquence were infinite in their variety, his con- 
science never learned the secret of elasticity. In 
his hands the truth did not go round, but over- 
turned the prejudices which obstructed its pas- 
sage. Never could he be persuaded to use 
diplomacy where the question was one of right 
and wrong. Sin he did not bend, but broke. 
To be silent before error, to concede to it in 
the slightest degree was equivalent to treason 
in his eyes. Such uncompromising demeanor 
cost him the enmity of all that was wrong — 
cunning, pious sophistries, and false arguments 
for good causes. '^ We belong to the truth, and 
not the truth to us," he would say. 



58 Count Ag:enor de Gasparin. 

His methods of attack were open and honor- 
able. Never did he have recourse, for the sake of 
his cause, to those means so common in contro- 
versies — the flattery of a newspaper, or a compli- 
mentary paragraph written by an obliging friend 
— or to any of those contemptible intrigues which 
pave the way to worldly success. His integrity 
forbade the employment of any questionable ar- 
gument, and he refused to belittle his self-respect 
by engaging in a personal attack. In theory all 
are ready to admit that we should separate the 
man from his opinions ; that the latter, not the 
former, is the legitimate object of attack, yet in 
practice the majority of men do just the reverse. 
It was not so with him. As he was the more 
unyielding, uncompromising, and relentless, so 
much the more did he respect the rights of the 
individual. ''Absolute truth is alone tolerant 
because it has supreme faith in itself," was his 
favorite maxim. After or even during the bat- 
tle he was always ready, true gentleman as he 
was, to shake hands with the adversary whose 
opinions he had just attacked. 

He had no personal enemies. His unfailing 
courtesy overcame all prejudices and quenched all 



The Orator and Writer. 59 

hatreds. The foremost advocate of a fuller polit- 
ical and religious freedom, of every wise reform, 
and of a more impartial administration of justice, 
he usually battled, single-handed, with the van- 
guard of the enemy. For a long time he stood 
alone in France as the avowed opponent of slavery 
and the corruption of the ballot-box. Almost 
alone did he battle in behalf of religious liberty, 
the separation of Church and State, and the 
just settlement of those peculiar questions con- 
nected with the defense of Hayti and the Amer- 
ican conflict. In the first pages of the " Decla- 
ration of War " he himself has noted this fact 
of isolation with a fierceness shadowed by a pro- 
found sadness : " If one intends to undertake 
the settlement of delicate and difficult ques- 
tions, to dispute the authority of prevailing 
opinion and refuse allegiance to the petty pow- 
ers in the State, he must make up his mind in 
advance to suffer great wrongs and gross injus- 
tice. A man of independent spirit is regarded 
as the enemy of society, and society at his ap- 
proach huddles together like a flock of fright- 
ened sheep, while our pet institutions, feeling 
themselves menaced, sound the call to arms. 



6o Count Agenor de Gasparin 

It is a thankless task to redress wrongs and 
preach the truth. The world advances only by 
the sufferings of him who has been the instru- 
ment of its progress." 

It must not be imagined that he presented 
the truth in a cold and dry manner, as if it were 
a formula in mathematics. It is hardly possible 
to open anyone of his books without perceiving 
that he has at no time written for the sake of 
writing and of gratifying some contemptible lit- 
erary vanity, or even for the purpose of engaging 
in a discussion. In all his literary work a heart is 
revealed which grieves for the sorrows and sins 
of humanity, and which speaks in the loving 
tones of one longing to see every soul come 
out of its darkness and unrest into light and 
peace. It is love which expands and selfishness 
which contracts the faculties of man, and love 
was his master. I call to witness this statement 
all who have known him, all who have heard 
him, all who have read him. Take any one of 
his books and open it at random. Here are 
debates, theories, history, philosophy, and sci- 
ence. Yet you are impressed less with the bril- 
liancy than the intense feeling of the author. 



The Orator and Writer. 6i 

You may almost hear the beating of his 
heart."^ 

Filled with a deep respect for the audience 
he was to address, and thinking that it was not 
lawful for him to lightly occupy the time allot- 
ted him for preparation, he has never under- 
taken the delivery of a lecture nor written a 
book without making himself thoroughly fa- 
miliar with the whole literature of the subject, 
without pursuing special studies and conscien- 
tiously consulting every available source of in- 
formation — old folios, modern books, reviews, 
and newspapers. He has read much, and read 
alike with avidity and deep reflection. Indeed, 
so constant and uninterrupted has his reading 
been that it very nearly cost him his eyesight. 
Great thinkers have always been great readers. 
Pencil in hand, he would hastily jot down when 
reading, either some thought of the author, or 
more frequently some idea suggested by what 
he read, as the spark flies forth when steel 
strikes flint. At no time was his subject en- 



* This is what Prof. Hornung probably meant when he 
said the Count de Gasparin was more of an orator than a 
writer. 



62 Count Ag^nor de Gasparin. 

tirely out of his mind. Whether walking or 
talking, he would occasionally jot down a sen- 
tence or two on some one of the small sheets of 
paper with which his vest-pocket was plentifully 
supplied. The notes thus taken he would sub- 
sequently classify. 

These months of reading and reflection were 
the approaches of the siege, and he lingered 
over this part of his work with delight. At 
length, fired with the desire to make an assault, 
he threw his plan upon paper, writing and 
rewriting it until it satisfied the severe re- 
quirements of his logic and included all his 
thoughts. Then the orator gave his lecture, 
which, aided by the chain of ideas, he wrote out 
in full for the press. 

Prophet and forerunner of his times did we 
call him ? 

Prophet he has been on more than one occa- 
sion. 

In 1861 the terrible American conflict broke 
out. The maintenance or abolition of slavery 
was the question. To-day it has no place among 
us, but in Europe sixteen years ago it was still 
the subject of hot debate. Thanks to commer- 



The Orator and Writer. 63 

cial and political considerations ; thanks to that 
ancient selfishness which imagines all will go 
well, provided there is no violent disturbance, 
the South received more sympathy than the 
North throughout the whole of England. 

In the midst of all this vacillation Gasparin 
could not contain himself. His blood boiled in 
his veins. " Slavery is a crime." This was the 
principle from which he started, and he hurled 
his unconcealed indignation upon Europe and 
America in " The Uprising of a Great People." 
This book, quivering with righteous anger and 
invincible in its logic, in which an ardent lover 
for the defenders of liberty is coupled with a 
generous charity for their adversaries, predicted 
victory for the North. He predicted it because 
he saw injustice could never succeed. More- 
over, he predicted it at a moment when the 
South had just obtained signal success, and 
when the wise men of the world were declaring 
that all was lost, that there was nothing left to be 
done but to submit to the will of the conqueror. 
Against the arrogance of facts he pitted the sov- 
ereignty of a principle. To the North, crushed 
and defeated as it was, he gave the victory. 



64 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

In Europe the book was a comfort to every 
conscience not yet seared and hardened, a re- 
freshing breeze in a foul and close atmosphere. 
The North welcomed it with enthusiasm. She 
felt her hopes revive and her courage rally un- 
der the cheering words which were wafted to her 
from across the Atlantic. She saw she had some 
friends in Europe, whatever might be the seem- 
ing indifference of the masses and the open hos- 
tility in certain quarters. 

Private citizens, military commanders, and 
officers of State — in fact, the whole North — 
expressed its obligation to the author, who at 
that moment was carrying on an important cor- 
respondence with Mr. Lincoln. 

For this foresight he was indebted to his un- 
wavering faith in justice. "The abolition of 
slavery," he wrote, " will be, I have always 
thought,* the crowning achievement of the 
nineteenth century, its chief recommendation 
in the eyes of posterity and the excuse for 
much weakness." The book closes with these 
words : " It is a foregone conclusion that the 



* " The Uprising of a Great People.' 



The Orator and Writer. 65 

nineteenth century will see the end of slavery 
in every form, and woe be to him who would 
oppose such progress." * 

At the close of the fratricidal war he certainly 
had a right to give the United States that ad- 
vice which his conscience dictated and his sym- 
pathies inspired, and which he conveyed to his 
friends beyond the sea in his book, ''America 
before Europe." To conqueror and conquered 
he spoke alike of justice, wise equality, pardon, 
and forgetfulness. The book is a work on recon- 
struction and morals, penetrated through and 
through with political science.f 



* " The Uprising of a Great People." 

t A shrewd habit of generalization explains in part this 
intuitive foresight which characterized him. In 1870 he 
was present at one of the sessions of the CEcumenicai 
Council. The Fathers, seen through the colored light 
streaming through illuminated windows, as they assem- 
bled in one of the side chapels of St. Peter's and stood 
motionless on the immense estrade, the pale yellow glim- 
mer of waxen tapers and the clouds of incense constantly 
ascending, all combined to present a picture of incom- 
parable grandeur. One would have said it was an ancient 
painting of a Michael A.ngelo or Raphael. Soon they de- 
scended, and dividing into two files, marched onward in 
long procession. Cardinals, bishops, patriarchs from be-. 

S 



66 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

A forerunner of his time he has been in ec- 
clesiastical questions. He had made the ques- 
tion of the separation of Church and State a 
subject of profound study, viewing it in the 
triple light of the Gospel, Philosophy, and 
History, 

Planting his feet on the lofty heights of prin- 
ciple, and refusing to admit that any circum- 
stances whatsoever could justify the perversion 
of the truth, he boldly advocated the disunion 
of the temporal from the spiritual power. By 
a remarkable coincidence not infrequent in the 
history of human thought, two co-workers ap- 
peared at the same time in the field of ecclesi- 
astical warfare. As two nations were simultane- 



yond the sea, the famous monks of Egypt and Palestine, 
venerable figures, white beards, sacerdotal vestments of 
unequaled splendor, shed a lustre of saintliness over the 
whole pageant. The ladies of the party who accompanied 
M. de Gasparin, fascinated with the artistic beauty of the 
scene, watched attentively the ceremony of the Elevation 
of the Host. He himself watched it standing a little to 
one side. When the two companies had vanished from 
sight in the distant nave, he approached his companions, 
and with a slight shrug of his shoulders, said ; ■* They will 
all vote for Infallibility." 



The Orator and Writer. 6^ 

ously solving the problem of slavery — America 
in proclaiming the freedom of the blacks, and 
Russia in emancipating the serf — so M. de Gas- 
parin will meet on that high plane whither his 
inexorable logic had brought him, a man of the 
highest intelligence and deepest piety, the Vau- 
dois Vinet, in whom he was not slow to recog- 
nize a brother and companion in arms. Vinet 
had crawled up almost in spite of himself to 
this great height with slow and uncertain steps.^ 
The acknowledged defender in 1826 of the 
rights of conscience and religious freedom, he 
was slow to advocate the entire separation of 
Church and State. His whole heart was bound 
up in the national institution. It might be truly 
said that when brought face to face with the 
legitimate deductions of his principles, his filial 
respect caused him to shrink from the practical 
operations of his logic. 

The free churches of Switzerland and France 
have done Vinet no positive injustice, but they 
have allowed a shadow to rest on the name of 
him who fought with the same means in behalf 
of the same ends. 



* See his Biography by Rambert, p. 363, 2d edition. 



6S Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

Gasparln, whose conduct was always in har- 
mony with his ideas, did not hesitate for a mo- 
ment to openly submit to the requirements of 
the truth as it appeared to him. He boldly 
cast his lot with the party advocating separa- 
tion, and assisted in the formation of a free 
church at the Canton of Vaud when the Synod 
met in March, 1847. Vinet was detained by 
sickness, but he sent a letter of cordial approval, 
and filled with priceless advice. 

During the nine years following the death of 
the illustrious Vaudois,* he defended almost 
alone, in the "Archives of Christianity," the 
principles both had advanced. 

Intolerance, wherever manifested, was hateful 
to him ; but whenever he met it in a Protestant 
country it especially angered him. Fighting it 
till the end of his life, he has attacked it in 
Sweden, in Prussia, and England, and more 
fiercely still at Rome or Madrid. 

In France there was not a moment's lull in 
the battle. So fiercely did the conflict rage that 
Gasparin was compelled not only to repeatedly 



* Vinet died in 1847. 



The Orator and Writer. 69 

claim in the presence of a hostile Government 
his right to personal freedom, but also to defend 
himself both against those timid Protestants 
whom his speeches terrified, and against those 
imprudent and rash Protestants who injured 
their cause by insisting on a violent and arbi- 
trary exercise of authority, when all that was 
needful was a warning that such a measure 
would be resorted to should it become neces- 
sary. There is nothing more eloquent than the 
peroration of his last speech in the Chamber on 
April 6, 1846. 

After having brought to the notice of the 
Administration the suits pending against the 
missionaries, the sentences imposed upon the 
colporteurs, and the petitions of the churches 
of France, he concluded, emphasizing his words 
with vehement gestures : " I tell you, in all 
calmness and earnestness, to be careful, for in 
saying what I do, I am but giving utterance to a 
stern and invincible resolution. If you refuse 
us the liberty we ask, if you persist in imposing 
fresh checks on the exercise of a just right, I 
forewarn you that, taking on our own shoulders 
the packs of the colporteurs, we will sell Bibles, 



70 Count Ag:enor de Gasparin. 

defy your threats, and cause you to cast us in 
prison." There was a moment's silence, and 
then a perfect thunder of applause. 

At home Gasparin was no less a man of ac- 
tion than a writer. 

In 1852, when the Madiai (husband and wife) 
were thrown into prison at Tuscany by the Du- 
cal Government — their only crime was that of 
having read the Bible in company with a few 
friends — he became, by unanimous request, a 
member of the Christian embassy which was to 
repair to Florence, and there demand the release 
of these courageous witnesses of Jesus Christ. 

Capable of being adjusted in one of two ways 
— either by diplomacy or uncompromising reli- 
ance on principles — the whole affair was fraught 
with grave perplexities. It was the latter meth- 
od, it is, perhaps, needless to say, which Gaspa- 
rin wished to employ. 

Diplomatic interference, even had it resulted 
in opening the doors of their prison to the Ma- 
diai, would have compromised the rights of re- 
ligious liberty. As far as principles were in- 
volved, the cause would have been lost. 



The Orator and Writer. 71 

The embassy was to arrive at Florence on a 
certain day, and there decide on the course they 
should pursue. Several of tjie delegates delayed 
on the route failed to arrive. Lord Roden, 
President of the Embassy, M. de Gasparin, M. 
de Mimont, and M. de Bonin came together on 
the day previously agreed upon, and opened 
the proceedings without loss of time. In fact, 
it was important to act quickly, in order to 
forestall any diplomatic or official interference. 
By his untiring zeal and the easy authority he 
knew so well how to assume over debates, Gas- 
parin maintained the question on its proper 
grounds. Not a single official representative of 
any Protestant Power interfered in the matter, 
and in the region of Ideas, where all true battles 
are lost and won, religious liberty gained another 
substantial victory.* 

In 1842 he had published his book, ''Some 
things of general interest to French Protest- 
ants." Recognizing the magnitude of the field 
to be plowed, and the unfavorable condition of 
the soil overgrown with weeds, he had founded 



* Some months later the Madiai were pardoned. 



72 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

a society, which was especially intrusted with 
the rights of Protestantism and the formation 
of certain organizations.* In theory the pur- 
pose of this society was to establish religious 
liberty on a firm basis, which in reality it ( > 
fended and practiced. His example was fol- 
lowed in a few cases, but the majority showed 
themselves hostile, and the minority remained 
more or less indifferent. To-day all are com- 
pelled to do what he long ago endeavored to 
bring about. The progress of the age, the fol- 
lies of Rome, the lame and unsatisfactory nega- 
tions of Rationalism, have all combined to pre- 
cipitate the storm for which he wished to pre- 
pare his country. 

The free lectures which he gave — " The Ar- 
bor of the Right Bank," " The Hall of the Ref- 
ormation," ^' Casino " — great as was the labor be- 
stowed on their preparation, afforded him much 
pleasure. So popular had he become, that the 
hall, with a seating capacity for three thousand 



The farming-colony of Saint Foy, for young convicts. 



is one of these organizations. 



The Orator and Writer. 73 

persons, could scarcely contain the crowds which 
the announcement of a lecture by him constant- 
ly drew. The workmen — who were the sort of 
hearers he was especially anxious to attract, and 
who usually occupied seats in the galleries — 
might be seen as soon as the day's work was 
ended, thronging the streets which led to the 
hall, and asking one another : " Are you going 
to hear Gasparin?" The fine figure, frank ex- 
pression, winning smile, and magnetic presence 
of the orator; his impassioned, ringing voice, 
and easy gesticulation, too frequent, perhaps, 
but always in harmony with his words ; his cus- 
tom of relieving the dryness of an abstract 
argument by some pithy anecdote or homely 
illustration drawn from every-day life ; the fre- 
quent flashes of wit, which served to render 
some telling point more clear, and the knack, 
which he alone seemed to possess, of setting off 
things to their best advantage, or of neatly com- 
plimenting some modest fellow-citizen by means 
of an apt quotation ; his indignant eloquence, 
exquisite, but good-humored irony and tender 
pathos, which moved the hearts of every one 
present, as well as his unaffected modesty and 



74 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

unfailing dignity — all combined to hold his 
hearers breathless for one and sometimes two 
hours, worn out as they were with a long day's 
work. 

He spoke without notes. Not, however, by 
sheer force of memory, but because his thoughts, 
held together by the compact chain of his logic, 
succeeded one another without interruption, 
finding spontaneous expression as they assumed 
their proper place in the discourse. Having 
once mapped out his plan, he steadfastly ad- 
hered to it, and never lost sight of the goal he 
was endeavoring to reach. The principles he 
was advocating as well as their logical deduc- 
tions, he held firmly grasped in his tenacious 
memory, but the flowers of rhetoric he gathered 
by the way ; while the sight of some one in 
his audience was often sufficient to suggest the 
anecdote he introduced in his speech. 

An unsparing critic of himself, he prepared 
the full plan of his subject with such complete 
concentration and such keen, clear, and critical 
analysis as to leave no point obscure or of 
doubtful interpretation. Then the ideas flashed 
forth in such quick and unbroken succession as 



The Orator and Writer. 75 

to leave the impression that the harvest had 
ripened in a moment, without any previous 
plowing or planting.* 

The audience not infrequently gave vent to 
their emotion in perfect thunders of applause. 

Real convictions command, not obey, those who 
entertain them. One evening, giving no heed 
to the loss of popularity it might cost him— 
such a thought should never enter the head of 
the orator— Gasparin delivered " The Circus of 
Pleinpalais," a lecture upon the separation of 
Church and State. Rarely has he been more 
earnest or more brave than on this occasion. 
He seemed like some fearless cavalier who fights 
relentlessly, but uses only knightly weapons. 
The audience— three to four thousand in num- 
ber — interrupted him more than once with pro- 
longed applause. It was the act they applauded. 
It was the man, his independence, and his cour- 
age, which won their admiration and homage. 
The next day in the shops one artisan might 
be heard asking another : '' Well ! did you hear 

* The lectures of Father Hyacinthe, and the first series ot 
lectures by Prof. Naville, have alone, at Geneva, rivaled in 
popularity those of the Count de Gasparin. 



76 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

Gasparin?" and then they would discuss the 
lecture. 

He heartily reciprocated the affection of the 
Genevese. He was justly proud of his popu- 
larity, because it was due to none of those petty 
intrigues in local politics, by which, if the cur- 
rent of public opinion be followed, popular ap- 
plause is surely won. With that diplomacy 
which converts the oration of the demagogue 
into the minister of his ambition, Gasparin would 
have nothing to do. He had too much of that 
self-respect which the truth inspires, to flatter 
the weaknesses of even his dearest friends. It 
was to those with whom he was most intimate 
that he confessed how his value of the affections 
of his Genevese audiences was proportionate to 
his estimate of their intelligence. 

It will doubtless be asked what result was 
gained by these lectures and books ? God only 
knows. He who plants does not always live to 
see the harvest. Who can tell the various ways 
in which a word of truth may find an entrance 
into a human soul ? Carried on the wings of 
the wind a few grains have oftentimes sufficed 



The Orator and Writer. 77 

to plant a vast region with magnificent forests. 
It is hard to think that those lectures on " Moral 
Liberty," " Conscience," " The Family," " The 
Rights of the Truth," " Personality," and the 
"Gospel," were delivered during nine years, 
without leaving a vivid impression on some 

heart. 

To all outward showing the spoken word dies 

in the utterance : 

" The moment at which I am speaking is far from me' ' 

When, however, this spoken word is supported 
by a life in accord with principles, who can cal- 
culate its power ? 

J. J. Rousseau, after having deprived Mile. The- 
resa of the custody of his five children, in order 
to place them in a hospital, published " Emile," 
his profound treatise on education and the du- 
ties of parents. He had avoided much sophis- 
try and error had he practiced what he preached. 
Conscience protests against such inconsistency, 
and he alone can win the name of benefactor 
of the race whose outer life is in perfect unison 
with his expressed convictions. The consistent 
life of an orator is in itself an eloquent sermon. 



78 Count Agienor de Gasparin. 

This was the secret of Gasparin's power. His 
hearers, drawn from every class of society, have 
all come under this double influence. Indeed, 
certain skeptics have ascribed their conversion 
to the words and example of this true Chris- 
tian. How many young students and ordained 
ministers of God his words have encouraged 
and his life inspired with new zeal ! How many 
genuine and thorough conversions are taking 
place to-day wherever his books are read — in 
France, Switzerland, England, Germany, Russia, 
America, in fact, everywhere. 

One of our great preachers has said : " Never 
can I be sufficiently thankful to M. de Gasparin 
for the good his lectures have done me." This 
was but the testimony of many. 

Some of his lectures were given under the 
auspices of the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion, whose President was M. Max Perrot, and 
more than once has this Society taken occasion 
to express its gratitude by paying the orator a 
visit at Rivage. Gathered together on the ter- 
race on some warm evening in March or April, 
these young Christians would sing as in the 
time of Luther, their most beautiful songs of 



The Orator and Writer. 79 

patriotism or more inspiring hymns. The air 
was laden with the fragrance of spring-tme, 
and the stars, mirrored in the clear lake, glit- 
tered in the deep vault of heaven, while their 
voices ascended in the holy silence of the mght. 



THE MAN 



CHAPTER V. 

THE MAN. 

It Is impossible to know a man thoroughly, 
without knowing the source where all his ac- 
tions have originated and whence he has de- 
rived all his heat and light. In the case of 
Gasparin it was the Bible, and in this generous 
soil were all the fibers of his moral being plant- 
ed. The Bible imparted to his faculties a higher 
range of feeling and wider scope of thought. 
Thus was he able to scale those glorious heights, 
which he abandoned only to mount higher still, 
that he might quench his thirst in the Eternal 
Source of all truth. From his earliest years the 
Bible was with him, as with all Protestants, a 
familiar book ; but it was not a living book 
until after his marriage. The first gift Mile. 
Boissier made him after their engagement, was 
a copy of the Gospels ; the first promise she ex- 
acted from him, was that they would read the 
Holy Book together every day. 

(83) 



84 Count Agienor de Gasparin. 

His was not a blind and unreasoning, but an 
intelligent faith, for his mental constitution was 
such as to be unsatisfied with opinions whose 
sole authority was derived from tradition. He 
became convinced only when by patient inves- 
tigation and search he reached the solid rock. 
" So long as there is a single uncertain point in 
our creed it is our duty to doubt. What is it 
which makes the Christian sincere, humble, and 
devout? A (a,ith. without a, /ferkaps." He had 
a horror of incomplete or insufficient proof. 
In his opinion it made more atheists than the 
fiercest attacks of skeptics. 

The indifference ot the century, the scientific 
and literary atmosphere of Paris had benumbed 
for a time that faith which was his richest in- 
heritance. Other subjects, especially politics, 
occupied his mind ; but so soon as the impor- 
tance of those questions which concerned his 
eternal welfare were brought to his attention, 
he has made them the subject of his deepest 
study, bringing to the investigation the earnest- 
ness, uncompromising honesty, and tireless per- 
severance in the pursuit of truth which entered 
so intimately into the formation of his charac- 



The Man. 85 

ten He did not shrink from either the minutiae 
'of BibHcal exegesis, or the colossal dimensions 
of Biblical criticism. He fairly met every objec- 
tion, and never let a difficulty pass unconquered. 
As, one after another, they would rise before 
him, not content with an easy victory, he would 
attack and wrestle with it, until he had over- 
come it by sound reasoning. In this struggle 
of such grave import the entire man — heart, 
soul, and brain — engaged. Never could he un- 
derstand how a man, playing, as it were, two 
opposite parts, could believe as a Christian 
what he denied as a philosopher. 

At length the day broke, and the Bible proved 
itself as Bible to him. What it said and what 
it had wrought — without that collateral testi- 
mony which is unimpeachable —proved to him 
its divine origin. The wonderful plan of God 
was fully revealed to his eyes. The Bible was 
to him, in very truth, the Word of God. His 
belief in it was full and deep, alike in its inspira- 
tion and its infallibility in all particulars, as the 
sole source of absolute truth. 

He possessed the truth, and the truth possessed 
him. It was his childlike Dbedience to the teach- 



86 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

ings of the Gospel which gave him his strength of 
character, his independent spirit, his moral great- 
ness, and those unaffected virtues which have 
made his family relations so happy. It was the 
Bible which has expanded his heart. To his en- 
ergy, it added charity; to his inflexible observance 
of the rule of right, a broad humanitarianism ; 
to his detestation of sin, a sympathy for the 
sinner. The outline of the figure loses nothing 
of its manliness, but there is shed over it from 
above a soft and tender light. 

Hence, his relations toward God were in all 
things those of a child toward his father — in 
the little as in the great affairs of life. He did 
not enter on a long journey, nor take a short 
walk without first committing himself to the 
loving care and guidance of Him in whose eyes 
nothing is small. 

Prayer was the atmosphere in which he lived. 
Not formal prayer, uttered only in cassock and 
band, but spontaneous and unaffected prayer, 
inspired by every incident, however trivial, of 
his daily life ; by the golden glory of the sun- 
set, or the crimson splendor of the dawn ; by 
the sight of a bunch of wild roses, or the arrival 



The Man. ^y 

of sudden news ; by the stroke of grief, or the 
full and unrestrained flow of gayety. By prayer 
he made Heaven a sharer in his happiness. 
With him it was the constant need the child 
feels for communion with the All-wise Father 
whose hand he tightly holds. 

Himself a practical believer, he was burning 
with a desire to make others partakers in that 
unspeakable joy inspired by the truth of whose 
reality he had no doubt. Wherever he went he 
scattered copies of the Scriptures. Never did 
he quit a cottage or hotel without leaving a 
copy of the New Testament for the servants 
who had waited on him, satisfied that in so 
doing he was doing good. Never did he part 
from a vetturino, a cicerone, or guide without 
having placed the Word of God in their hands. 
In all cases were they received with profound 
respect. 

During his first sojourn at Kreuznach, in 1839, 
he devised a temporary system of scattering 
copies of the New Testament and Psalms 
throughout the country by means of colpor- 
teurs. When the German troubles, in 1849, 
quartered on this same spot twenty-five thou- 



88 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

sand troops, he opened his parlors for the gra- 
tuitous distribution of the Scriptures. From 
morning to evening, privates, and not infre- 
quently officers, would come and receive a copy 
of the Holy Book, which was freely given them 
accompanied by a few words of earnest and 
brotherly advice. 

The troops of Garibaldi hastening alone or 
in companies to rejoin their great leader in Italy, 
have carried in their bosoms, soon to be exposed 
to battle, the Word of God, which this other de- 
fender of liberty has given them 1 

When traveling, whatever might have been 
the fatigues of the day, the tourists celebrated 
its close with family worship. If they chanced 
to be stopping at some hotel, the proprietor 
and servants received alike a cordial invitation to 
join them. Long will the memory be retained at 
Pegli, at Baden, Orgorri and Kreuznach, of those 
Sundays which gathered around the Bible, both 
the tourists and their friends. As soon as he 
entered a city in Spain he would carefully search 
out the Protestant clergymen and struggling con- 
gregation, and encourage it by his cheering words. 



The Man. 89 

To preach the Gospel to simple country hear- 
ers was one of his greatest pleasures. 

He might often be seen early Sunday morn- 
ing traversing the distance between Valleyres 
and Baulmes, his face radiant with content- 
ment, and his whole frame drawing strength 
and vigor from long draughts of the exhilarat- 
ing mountain air. After supplying the place 
of the sick or absent pastor in the latter village, 
he would come back to Valleyres toward even- 
ing, where the small congregation of the Free 
Church awaited his return. His sermon would 
be at first rather conversational in style, and 
easy to be understood by all. Soon, however, 
his wings would open, and he mounted higher 
and higher, drawing his audience along with 
him. 

" But this student of the Bible, this man of 
prayer, must have been a monk, and his home a 
cloister," I hear some one say. ''The gloom 
of a stern and unnatural austerity must have 
pervaded his character, his work, and even his 
social and domestic life." 

Do you think so ? Let us draw nearer and 



90 Count Agi^nor de Gasparin. 

study this man in his own dwelling, especially 
at Valleyres, for it is there that his true charac- 
ter will be best revealed to us. 

The Count de Gasparin was a severe, although 
an intellectual workman, but he was none the 
less a complete man. Domestic life, wholesome 
physical exercise, and country scenery were, one 
and all, a necessity in his case. 

After morning worship, in which husband 
and wife joined, came in summer an early walk 
across the fields, in which always two partook, 
and sometimes three or four when the children 
accompanied them. Then came breakfast, at 
nine or half-past, which they enjoyed with ap- 
petites sharpened by exercise. Afterward M. 
de Gasparin, with bag and baggage — pens, ink- 
stand, books, and paper — adjourned to the large 
summer-house on the terrace.* 



* M. de Gasparin would sometimes by his sudden move- 
ments upset the inkstand, and on one occasion, at Sor- 
rento, such an accident had transformed the carpet into a 
veritable sea of ink. Francois, running- at the call of his 
master, armed himself with two citrons, and squeezing 
out the juice, rubbed and washed the carpet so well that 
it soon recovered its pristine purity. What a valuable 
discovery ! M. de Gasparin could upset his inkstand in 
the future without the slightest fear of consequences. 



The Man. 



91 



He loved to work in the open air, and mapped 
out the plan of many of his books rapidly pac- 
ing up and down the hornbeam alley and broad 
meadows of Rivage, in full view of the lake and 
Mont*Blanc, or the garden of Valleyres blooming 
with flowers, with the Alps toward the east, and 
the black Suchet, whose lofty summit pierces the 
blue and bending heavens. In his case it was an 
inspiration, not an interruption, to work where he 
might catch the morning breeze and scent the 
sweet perfume of flowers borne to him from afar ; 
where he might hear the murmur of the brook, 
the low of cattle, the hum of bees, and the 
song of birds as well as the merry voices of chil- 
dren and the cheerful shouts of the reapers. 

His method of work was peculiar. He jot- 
ted down his notes on small pieces of paper, as 
has been said, and his desk was covered with 
such notes. Sometimes a prankish breeze would 
scatter these Sibyline leaves — his handwriting re- 
sembled Egyptian hieroglyphics — and to run 
after these precious scraps, pick them up, and 
rearrange them was the first thing to be done. 
Had some peasant been a witness of the zeal 
he displayed in such a chase, he would have 



92 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

doubtlessly imagined that it must have been 
bank-bills of which he was so careful. But such 
would have been a mistake. It was simply an 
exhibition of the workman's devotion to his 
work. Moreover, these pranks played by the 
wind forced him to indulge in just the recrea- 
tion he needed. Frequently he would refresh 
himself by a short run, or a leap over a stone 
wall or hedge. 

He used to stow away these notes — he had 
them on all subjects — in countless bags, and at a 
later period he would arrange and classify them. 
Never did he deliver a lecture or write an ar- 
ticle without such previous classification. 

His working hours extended to dinner-time.* 
After dinner he would engage in a social chat, 
or else lounge under the huge trees in the court- 
yard where he might hear the cool sound of the 
water falling from the fountain ; or, perhaps, he 
might make or receive calls, or play some game. 
It was here that he brought the mirth of the 



* At least ordinarily so. On Sunday he went to see the 
sick and afflicted of the village, who during the week had 
been constantly visited by the different members of his 
family. 



The Man. 93 

true student — mirth as unrestrained as his work 
was earnest. I can still see his modest, yet tri- 
umphant smile, when, in a game of bowls, his 
own ball, causing that of his adversary to roll 
afar off, remained in a good position. 

Into all outdoor sports — ball games, pistol 
practice, fencing, hunting, and leaping — he en- 
tered with the greatest zest. To possess an in- 
exhaustible fund of harmless amusements is one 
of the secrets of good humor. 

At the family table there was an abundance 
without extravagance, and always a generous 
hospitality. Between M. Ed. Boissier,* M. de 
Gasparin, his wife, the children, and guests, con- 
versation never flagged for a moment. Do not, 
however, imagine that it was formal or pedantic, 
for quite the reverse of this was true. It was 
simply a family chat, where an impromptu jest 
or some pun ventured by M. de Gasparin for 
the sake of its sheer nonsense, was not out of 
place. 

To his taste the most dainty viands were 

* The botanist of European reputation, and brother-in- 
law of M. de Gasparin, whose manners were as cordial 
and unaffected as hjs knowledge was vast. 



jg4 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

roast chestnuts, raw apples, olives, potatoes — 
baked in the embers of a wood fire — and, above 
all, bread. 

As soon as the lamps were lighted the family- 
adjourned to the parlor, and so long as his 
eyes allowed him, M. de Gasparin rendered all 
these evenings delightful by his readings. He 
read loud enough for all to hear, and exceed- 
ingly well, for his voice was capable of the most 
varied forms of expression — vehement passion 
as well as the most delicate intonation — and he 
had a rare appreciation of the airy ideality of 
poetry. Those who have heard him read a 
tragedy or comedy and recite the verses of 
Hugo or Musset, can never forget the marvel- 
ous tones of his voice. 

The charms of his conversation lay more fre- 
quently in its brilliancy than in its depth. Once 
at a reunion of distinguished men at Rivage, 
the conversation threatened to become rather 
pedantic, when M. de Gasparin enounced with 
playful malice a very absurd proposition, accom- 
panied by a merry word of sound good sense, 
which put the pedantry to flight, and set all 
present laughing. 



The Man. 95 

Self-consciousness he detested. He termed 
it egotism, and wished that every one might be 
bashful, in order that there might be no danger 
of hurting one another's feelings.* 

About nine o'clock they engaged in family 
worship, at which the servants and a few true 
friends were invited to be present. M. de Gas- 
parin would read a chapter from the Bible, and 
in case there was a stranger visiting them, of- 
fered prayer, although this part of the service 
was usually conducted by his wife. He consid- 
ered this the duty of the head of the family, 
and yielded its performance to no one — with 
the exception of his brother-in-law — not even 
to a clergyman, if one chanced to be visiting 
them. 

Nothing could be so impressive and yet so 
simple as this service of family worship. He 
commended to the care of God his parents, 



* He liked elegant surroundings, nor did he hesitate to 
criticise any article of dress which did not suit his taste, 
which was very correct and very pronounced. Without 
being over-nice or exacting, he was very particular about 
the conduct of his servants— an irregularity in service es- 
pecially annoyed him. 



96 Count Ag:^nor de Gasparin. 

friends, and inhabitants of the village ; recalled 
with devout thanksgiving all the mercies which 
had fallen to their lot — the bountifulness of the 
harvest, some narrow escape, or great happi- 
ness, and spoke with resignation and faith of 
the misfortunes occurring daily, of some family 
perplexity or some public or private sorrow. 

Perhaps I may be allowed at this point to re- 
late an incident which might seem childish and 
inappropriate did it not serve to reveal the liv- 
ing character of this home worship as well as the 
innermost heart of the Count de Gasparin. 

A guest who was on one occasion present at 
this home worship was shocked and felt himself 
almost scandalized, if we may use the expres- 
sion, at hearing M. de Gasparin pray for a sick 
kitten — as affectionate an animal as one could 
wish ; after closer reflection, however, he re- 
versed his former opinion. If the glory of God 
consists in His goodness, how can it be belittled 
by the petition of a Christian in behalf of a 
creature of God. Is not the Eternal One the 
God of the brute creation? Why should we 
blush to confide our most secret thoughts and 
desires to the Father who has numbered all the 



The Man. 97 

hairs of our head, to the Merciful One who tem- 
pers the wind to the shorn lamb ? In His sight 
nothing is small and everything is great. The 
sympathies of men, even of the best, are quickly 
exhausted. God alone is never weary. He is 
always ready to hearken to our requests, for He 
knows all our needs. '* Man," savs the Count de 
Gasparin, '^ excuses his cruelty to animals by 
the plea that they have no souls ; but the Bible 
teaches far otherwise. Of all cowards, he is the 
greatest who vents his brutality on the dumb 
animal."* 

Elsewhere he writes : " Luther prayed for sun- 
shine and rain for men and animals, for the har- 
vest and the flowers of the garden. Would you 
know the secret of such prayer ? In the faith of 
Luther, God was the All-wise Father, hence 
Luther had with God the sweet familiarity of a 

child."t 

He would frequently turn aside to avoid step- 
ing on a worm, or stoop down to gently push 
some insect to one side of a crowded path. 

In 1865, at the time of his first visit to Spain, 
he was following, in company with the '' Band 

* "Thoughts about Liberty," p. 120. f Luther. 



98 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

of Jura," a narrow path at the foot of Mt. Ser- 
rat, when Mme. de Gasparin, who was walk- 
ing a short distance in advance of the rest of the 
party, encountered a peasant brutally beating a 
horse harnessed to a heavily -loaded wagon. 
Remonstrances and commands were of no avail 
except to cause the blows from the whip-handle 
to fall more heavily on the back of the over- 
laden animal ; at length, stepping back, she called 
to her husband, whom a few rapid steps brought 
to the side of the scoundrel who was wreaking 
his wrath with increased violence on his poor 
victim. M. de Gasparin, without saying a word, 
seized the whip, and breaking it in two, threw 
the pieces far away over the hedge into a neigh- 
boring field. The eyes of the peasant flashed 
fire, and at that moment the brave courier* 
arrived. " That is all very well, sir," he said, 
*' but if you continue as you have begun, it may 
cost you a wound from, a navaja!'\ 



* M. David Ravey, courier emeritus, who was very de- 
voted to the family, and has made with its different mem- 
bers eight journeys to Spain, not counting other expedi- 
tions. 

t A formidable knife or dagger. 



The Man. gg 

Although passionately fond of the chase, he 
abandoned it without regret at the urgent re- 
quest of his wife. That sympathy which was 
awakened by the sight of every care-worn or 
sorrowful face, went out toward every breath- 
ing thing. Never did he forget the day when a 
partridge he had wounded fell at his feet, and it 
was necessary to wring its neck in order to bag 
it. Henceforth he fired wide of the mark, and 
he did not regret doing so. 

Sometimes the family at Valleyres would take 
a holiday and spend twelve, and occasionally six- 
teen or even twenty-four, hours in rambling 
over the mountains and valleys, and gathering 
flowers by the armful, and thus gaining rest and 
strength. In large or small companies they 
would start out before sunrise for the top of 
Suchet, of Chasseron, or the spurs of the Baulmes 
Hills or Mt. Tendre, where the informal greet- 
ings of old as well as young friends filled all 
hearts with joy and good humor. The cones of 
the fir-trees — the "pives," as they are called 
there — with which the ground was covered, were 
blown wildly about by the wind, and the only 
refuge from their attacks was to be found in the 



loo Count Agenor df Gasparin. 

farmer's cottage before the bowls of milk and 
freshly-churned butter. Sometimes they would 
sing a national hymn or some student song 
whose rollicking chorus awoke the echoes of 
the mountains ; or more frequently still, stretch- 
ed out at their ease under the shade of a huge 
fir-tree, they would read some favorite poetical 
or prose selection. They would light fires and 
roast potatoes — -right royal food ! — carefully dig 
up by the roots a gentian or tiger-lily to trans- 
plant in the garden at Valleyres, or feed the fire 
with the worm-eaten trunk of some tree which 
they had pulled down by united effort. The 
long draughts of mountain air served to inspire 
fresh zest into their mirth, and the oldest of the 
party was the youngest. The sincere Christian, 
the practical Christian, the Christian whose 
creed was stern and uncompromising, had the 
simple joys of a child. 

Every year M. de Gasparin took what he 
called his vacation, and he had sore need of 
rest and recreation after a year of hard work. 
In September, usually, he made with " The 
Band" a journey lasting several weeks. "The 
Band " was a company of distinguished men, 



The Man. ioi 

who were all Intimate friends, and he was the 
life of the party. It is impossible for any one 
who was at all acquainted with him to read the 
books devoted to the narration of these expe- 
ditions,* and fail to recognize him. The de- 
vout, ardent, chivalric, and catholic character, 
the unfailing mirth, the childlike simplicity, 
constant good humor, and freaks of playful 
malice, all belong to him as truly as the bril- 
liant and fascinating wit and the capacity to 
find enjoyment in everything — even in misfor- 
tune — which was simply the ripe fruit of a well- 
spent life, and of a soul at peace with itself and 
in close communion with the great and wise 
God, who has not scattered His blessings over 
the earth in order to forbid their enjoyment to 
man. 

" The Holy God has scattered flowers, fra- 
grance, and color everywhere, even at the bot- 
tom of the sea, where they are unseen by 
man."f 

This unfailing good humor, this mirth as 
sparkling as the sunlight, this broad spirit of 

'^ " The Band of Jura," in four volumes, 
t " The Family." 



102 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

benevolence, this easy grace of a catholic and 
sympathetic soul, did not come naturally to 
him. 

Although always a hard and intense worker, 
he was in youth of rather a retiring disposition. 
Yet this reserve was not due to timidity or 
diffidence, but sprang from excessive sensitive- 
ness. At first it cost him no slight effort to 
visit the poor and sick, and to read and pray 
with them. Yet these visits of charity served 
to strengthen his faith, and eventually afforded 
him the deepest pleasure. By birth morose and 
reserved, these tendencies of his nature were 
gradually counteracted by the influence of the 
Gospel amid the pure atmosphere of love. 

Dissipation disgusted him. In his opinion it 
impaired the intellect, corrupted the heart, and 
ruined the soul. But he loved a good laugh. 
His moments of exuberant mirth and stimulat-- 
ing thought were like crystal fountains, which, 
issuing from an unfailing source, sparkled in the 
sunshine. His life was sunny because his heart 
was pure and his soul at peace. It is the sun 
which lends fragrance and color to the flowers. 
The Count de Gasparin owed his equable tem- 



The Man. 103 

per to his truthfulness, his rejection of false 
duties, his independent spirit, and wise moder- 
ation in work. At Paris he has been morose, 
but at Valleyres, Rivage, and Orange innocent 
mirth abounded. His laugh was so frank and 
ringing that its mirth was fairly contagious. 

Although he had no children of his own, his 
life had its full share of pains and pleasures and 
duties. Young and old met under the same 
roof, all bound together by the strong ties of 
affection and respect. 

At Valleyres and Rivage he has lived with 
his father-in-law — from whom death alone has 
separated him — and his brother-in-law, M. Ed. 
Boissier, who was a real brother to him, and 
whose modesty, as we have said, was only sur- 
passed by his vast knowledge.* The two chil- 
dren of this brother, deprived at an early age 
of a loving mother, v/ere educated under the 
fourfold care of grandfather, father, aunt, and 
uncle. 

To the French family the distance which 

* Although honored with the most flattering notices 
from Europe, America, and the East, the journals of his 
own country have never said a woid about him. 



104 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

separates its different members affords no in- 
surmountable obstacle to mutual visits. M. 
and Mme. de Gasparin were in the habit of 
visiting their father each year at Orange, and 
more than once have they had the privilege of 
entertaining at Valleyres M. Paul de Gasparin, 
his wife, and children, and also M. Auguste de 
Gasparin, the favorite uncle. Each year like- 
wise the Count Adrien de Gasparin came to 
gain rest and health at the home of his son in 
the invigorating climate of Valleyres, where his 
evening of life was cheered by the tender minis- 
trations of filial love. 

It is, however, at the season of sorrow and 
disappointment that character is the most se- 
verely tested. 

There was a time when the studies of Gaspa- 
rin encroached upon his domestic duties, and 
this was at the commencement of those fierce 
ecclesiastical struggles in France. Excess of 
work had greatly impaired his health, and he 
was not slow to see that this was a cause of 
grief to his family. It was then that he reso- 
lutely stopped short in the midst of his work 
and devoted the greater portion of his time to 



The Man. 105 

domestic affairs, general reading, and physical 
exercise. When the day's labor was once fin- 
ished, he turned the key in the door, and left 
all thought of it behind — this is the privilege 
of great minds — nor did he once depart from 
this wise custom, which proved a most efficient 
safeguard against all selfish preoccupation in 
his work. He knew how to paint domestic 
duties and pleasures with such a charm and 
with such fidelity, because he has learned at first 
how to enjoy the one by performing the other. 

Valleyres was not the Coppet of the time of 
Mme. de Stael, although art and science had 
no unworthy representatives there. It was 
rather a democratic society — like that to be 
found in the White House at Washington — 
where friends assembled to exchange their 
views on any or all subjects, to chat freely to- 
gether, to listen to music, or hear M. de Gaspa- 
rin read some literary masterpiece. There was 
no other intention— a rare occurrence in this 
world — than to make the time thus spent a 
refreshing halt in some newly-discovered Eden 
in the weary journey of life. 



io6 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

You might meet there the botanist Reuter, 
the wise and modest friend of M. Ed. Boissier, 
and almost a member of the family, who, always 
an intelligent listener of whatever was said, oc- 
casionally introduced a wise and forcible remark. 
You might also meet MM, and Mmes. Recor- 
don de Ranees, MM. and Mmes. Dufour de 
Montcherand, and their niece Helene, all most 
intimate friends; the family Vuitel, whose every 
member stood on terms of the closest intimacy 
with the family at the manor; the Baron Alfred 
de Giimoens'^ and his young wife ; the Baron 
and Baroness de Bonstetten,f whom every au- 
tumn brought back to their large estates ; and 
many old and true friends from Yverdon, from 
Mathod, from Lausanne, and from many a 
household in the neighborhood. As regards 
clergymen, you might meet M. Berger, a friend 



* A charming and chivalric character, who, as a Major 
in the Austrian army, fulfilled with credit a difficult mis- 
sion in Persia. Head of one of the most ancient families 
in Vaud, he had quitted the service and lived on his fam- 
ily estate, where he has dispensed a generous hospitality. 
Death, in 1876, has separated him from his loving family. 

t Names familiar alike to literature and art. 



The Man. 107 

of long standing to the Boissier family, and who 
had officiated at the marriage of M. and Mme. 
de Gasparin ; M. Tachet, a man of a rare sense of 
honor, who has more than once made large sacri- 
fices for the sake of the ecclesiastical opinions 
he held ; M. Reymond, the able superintendent 
of the school at Lausanne for training nurses ; 
M. Chatelanat, whose modesty was equal to his 
vast knowledge ; and M. Borel, the friend alike 
of good and evil days, the national pastor and 
founder and superintendent of the Genevese 
Hospital ; all distinct in their individuality, but 
all faithful and Christian hearts. 

Outside of Valleyres he enjoyed in his visits 
to Morges the society of his relatives Forel, 
of M. and Mme. Lombard, and of Vinet. A 
deep respect for one another, and the perfect 
harmony of their opinions in respect to all 
ecclesiastical questions, have made the last his 
closest friend. Numerous, however, as were 
the conversations they have had, Vinet talked 
more freely and frequently with Mme. than with 
M. de Gasparin, for his secret preferences led 
him to seek the society of women rather than 
that of men. 



io8 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

At Geneva he lived on terms of the closest 
intimacy with the learned Aug. de La Rive, a 
distant relative of his wife. Whenever they 
met after a brief absence, the two friends would 
greet each other by saying : " Come ! let us ar- 
range Europe a little." Would to God they 
might have had the power! With M. Alfred Le 
Fort, another relative, it was an incessant fire 
of sallies. Both knew their Moliere by heart, 
and one quotation was matched by another in 
quick and brilliant repartee. With others, such 
as M. Eugene de La Rive, M. Adrien Naville, 
Colonel Saladin, Colonel Tronchin, M. Barbey, 
the Revs. Gaussen, Conlin, and Decombaz, and 
M. Merle d'Aubigne, his conversation was of a 
different order, better suited to the character 
and age of such eminent men.* 

He had the deepest respect and affection for 
M. and Mme. de Butini de La Rive, the uncle 



* Let me mention here MM. Alfred dii Mont, Alphonse 
de Candolle, Alphonse Favre, de Morsier, Sarasin, Mar- 
chin ville, Pictet de La Rive, Max Perrot, W. and L. de La 
Rive, Micheli, Prevost, Boissier, Cramer, Le Maitre, with- 
out counting the crowd of distinguished men whose love 
and esteem were precious to him. 



The Man. 109 

and aunt of his wife, and was never weaned of 
praising the goodness and youthful spirit of M. 

Butini. 

The family at Orange and Nimes occupied a 
large place in his heart, and he carried on a 
regular correspondence with his brother, M. 
Paul de Gasparin. He sincerely loved his un- 
cles and aunts at Daunant, the family of Dumas 
de Gasparin, who were in turn very fond of him. 
His affection for his nephews and nieces, who 
were the subjects of his constant prayers, was 
like that of a father. What he asked for them 
above all other things was that they might have 
faith, and that they might consecrate their lives 
without reserve to the service of God. Worldly 
success was a matter of secondary importance. 

A loving soul sheds its sunshine over what- 
ever it comes in contact with, especially over 
whatever demands its care and protection. It 
was the weakness and innocence of children 
which won Gasparin's heart. 

At Seville he was present, in 1867, during 
the Easter festivals at a famous ceremony— the 
Sant-hitierro—wh^n a glass coffin^ is once in 

* This coffin is consecrated to the Saviour. 



no Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

every twenty years paraded through the streets 
with great pomp. The public square, converted 
for the time being into an amphitheater, swarmed 
with the faithful. Near him there stood a fam- 
ily consisting of the grandmother, mother, and 
a plump little girl of eight or ten, who, being 
short and stout, and almost as broad as she was 
long, could see nothing at all of the procession. 
Although they had perched her upon a chair, 
and requested the ladies in front of them to sit 
down, all their efforts were in vain, and the 
poor child remained hidden behind a mountain 
of fluttering skirts. Gasparin at length lifted 
her up in his arms, and held her there during 
the full hour the procession occupied in passing. 
The child had a good heart, for as soon as she 
perceived the advantages of her position, she 
cried out, pointing to his other arm : " And the 
grandmother!" Fortunately the grandmother 
broke out in a laugh at such a proposition, and 
vigorously repelled it. When the procession 
had passed by he put down his burden, and 
stroking his arm, said with a smile : " She was 
not particularly light." 

Toward the end of autumn, when he was in 



The Man. hi 

the habit of taking long walks across the fields, 
the little shepherd boys who ran to him to ask 
the time, always received a friendly word, and 
some prettily illustrated child's book with which 
they might while away the hours until it should 
be time to drive the cows and sheep home. 

In August the children of the Sunday-school 
had their annual festival. On some beautiful 
afternoon, arranged in a long column, with flow- 
ers in their hats, and singing some hymn or 
rural song, they would march toward the skirts 
of the woods, following the footpaths which led 
from the villages of Valleyres, Ranees, Aberge- 
ment, Sergey, and Montcherand. Gathered to- 
gether under the huge trees, they would join 
hands and form a circle, with M. de Gasparin, 
the merriest of them all, in the center. " Chil- 
dren," he would ask, "do you- wish that I should 
talk for two hours ? " And the reply would be : 
"Yes, for two hours." Then by a few brief 
words he would bring them to the feet of God. 
Soon the wagon came loaded high with baskets, 
and the anxious children rushed to the vener- 
able oak under which were the tables spread with 
white-bread and cake. Afterward came different 



112 , Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

games, which M. de Gasparin and his brother- 
in-law superintended, and into which he entered 
with all the zest of a boy ; and in the evening 
there were fireworks and the gleeful march 
home. 

Christmas was for him a happy season, when 
the ground and fragrant branches of the mount- 
ain firs, covered with frost, glittered like dia- 
monds, and the large parlor was filled with 
children, who gathered around the Christmas- 
tree sparkling with numberless candles. 

At the festival of " Encouragements," stand- 
ing at the head of the tables, loaded with little 
packages, each bearing the name of a child, he 
would turn toward these faces glorified by the 
grace and purity of childhood, and speak a few 
earnest, loving words about Jesus and Heaven. 

When the children of the village were told 
that they should see him no more, they were 
inconsolable. A few of them, who had gath- 
ered together in the porch of an old church, 
were speaking of him, when a lady, who was in 
her garden, overheard them say : " It is ail 
over. We will have no more festivals in the 
woods." '^ Yes, you will," said the lady. ^' There 



The Man. 113 

are others who will give them to you," and she 
mentioned the names of the young people who 
v/ere still living at the manor. " It is not the 
same thing/' replied the children. ^'Ue never 
thought himself better than iisT They had sum- 
med up in a single sentence that easy courte- 
sy, that unaffected goodness — in short, that 
something ^N\\\Q^\ belonged to him alone.^ 

With the co-operation of his brother-in-law, 
he had founded at Valleyres certain societies 
for mutual aid and protection, in the hope that 
it might lead to something more permanent. 
The contemptible manner in which women were 
treated in the canton of Vaud made him highly 
indignant. 



* His modesty and uniform courtesy, which was without 
the slightest taint of affectation, had attracted the notice 
of every one in the village. When on one occasion a mem- 
ber of the family, clothed in deep mourning, was for the 
first time after his death walking in the street, an artisan 
abruptly stopped, and exclaimed, pale with emotion : " Oh, 
he was so modest ! " 

In a poor chamber, a seamstress, who sewed while tak- 
ing care of her grandmother, suddenly stopped short in 
her work, and said : " They can truly call him benevo- 
lent'' 

8 



114 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

He was a jealous guardian of the rights of 
the peasants, and their material welfare was the 
subject of his constant thought. The confines 
of the village were gradually becoming more 
and more contracted by the acquisitions of va- 
rious wealthy citizens, but neither he nor his 
brother-in-law have at any time accepted, for 
the purpose of enlarging their estates, the offers 
of sale which were not infrequently made them. 
It was their purpose to give the farmers every 
opportunity of improving their condition. On 
one occasion, a short time before his death, M. 
de Gasparin negotiated for the purchase of 
a small tract of land, planted with magnificent 
walnut-trees, which bordered upon the road, 
and afforded a most picturesque entrance to 
the village.* The trees were soon to be felled, 
for a contractor had bought them, and it was 
necessary to save them at any price. M. and 
Mme. de Gasparin resolved to purchase these 
few feet of land, with the intention of reserving 
for themselves only the slope of the hill on 
which the trees stood, and of dividing the rest 



By the side of the church. 



The Man. 115 

into small lots, to be distributed at a later pe- 
riod among the honest and industrious poor 
who might need them for building purposes. 
At the last moment the owner introduced a 
clause into the agreement whereby all right of 
cutting timber was reserved. M. de Gasparin, 
justly indignant at this act, wished to break the 
contract ; but some one near him eloquently 
pleaded the cause of the trees — the joy of the 
children, the glory of the village. The trees still 
live — they will live always. 

It was his habit on Sunday afternoon, once, 
in every five weeks, to deliver a lecture at Val- 
leyres, which was attended by the residents of- 
Orbe and those of the other neighboring towns, 
To the preparation of these lectures he brought 
the same conscientious diligence as he had to 
those delivered in Geneva before three thou 
sand hearers, although the subjects were such 
as were better calculated to interest and instruct 
a country audience. After reading and explain- 
ing a chapter in the Bible and offering prayer, 
he would relate what he had seen on his trav- 
els, or speak of current events^ — the tunneling 
of Mount Cenis, the construction of a railroad 



ii6 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

across the American Continent, aerial naviga- 
tion, and the latest discoveries of science — or 
he would recall to their minds some of the 
most stirring and heroic scenes in their national 
history. His style, graphic and exact, was some- 
times grave and sometimes gay, but always 
picturesque, and occasionally lit up by a flash 
of humor, which caused a frank laugh to run 
through his audience. 

In Italy, the East, Germany, Spain, France, 
Switzerland, wherever he has traveled, he has 
left some devoted friends among the waiters at 
the hotels, the vetturini, and the sailors' chil- 
dren, in the fisherman's hut and the farmer's 
cottage, and on his return home he has fre- 
quently sent to some one of these a small gift, 
as a token of his good-will and affection. I 
have found at Cannes a keeper of a bathing- 
house — he died in 1877 — who up to the end of his 
life has been the constant recipient of such gifts. 

If he knew how to give, he also knew how to 
refuse ; and this is a hard lesson for the generous 
soul to learn. Street beggars, demands on his 
purse made by letters stuffed full of flattery or 



The Man. 117 

bristling with anathematizing texts, the claims 
of idleness and disorder, collections in favor of 
a festival his conscience disapproved, or of a 
cause opposed to his convictions — one and all 
he declined to aid. 

His was an intelligent and practical system 
of charity. 

He and Mme. de Gasparin had founded at 
Lausanne, in 1859, ^ ^^^^ normal school for the 
training of hospital nurses, and placed it under 
the care and direction of Rev. and Mme. Ray- 
mond. This establishment — a practical applica- 
tion of the principle of Christian charity — grad- 
uated each year from sixteen to eighteen thor- 
oughly-trained and competent nurses, whose 
services were eagerly sought for in all cases of 
sickness which required peculiar care and tech- 
nical knowledge. 

In 1864 there was opened at Yverdon an un- 
pretending hospital, where during the bathing 
season board, lodging, and the use of the baths 
were gratuitously furnished to the indigent sick. 

Some one has said that virtue is not always 
courteous nor religion always affable. Such 



ii8 Count Ag:enor de Gasparin. 

certainly could not be said of him, for nothing 
could surpass the unfailing courtesy with which 
he treated his servants. He had a sincere affec- 
tion for them, and they in return have loved 
him. Each evening on their knees before God, 
master and servant alike felt themselves bound 
to one another by bonds eternity could not 
break. It was a common saying that both fami- 
lies — the Boissier and the Gasparin — always 
treated courteously those who have waited on 
them. 

In the world he attracted notice without any 
conscious effort on his part. His innate sense 
of good breeding, his easy and polished courte- 
sy, even his reserve charmed all who came in 
contact with him. Wit may dazzle, but it is the 
heart which wins friends. Courteous without 
the slightest affectation, modest and simple in 
his manners, and a consummate master of that 
exquisite irony which cuts without leaving any 
sting behind, a look or a smile more frequently 
than the spoken word indicated his apprecia- 
tion of some very absurd paradox or silly speech 
uttered in pompous tones. His courtesy, so 
much the more fascinating because it was nat- 



The Man. 119 

ural, had none of that patronizing air which 
men of talent are liable to assume when thrown 
into the society of common mortals. In his 
own circle of intimate friends he was constantly 
striving to promote the welfare of each one. 
Nobody has been a servant in the highest sense 
of the word more than he. Willingly did he 
sacrifice everything — everything except duty — 
for his friends. 

In 1 861 he was spending, in company with 
the Band, a short season at Monaco. The 
proprietor of the hotel advertised that on a cer- 
tain evening a concert would take place, for 
which the services of a prima donna and first- 
class orchestra had been secured. M. de Gas- 
parin, delighted with the news, hastened to 
inform the Band, and their only thought afc 
first was of the pleasure in store for them. 
Then M. de Gasparin took time to reflect. *' It 
is the proprietor of the gambling-house who 
gives the entertainment," he reasoned. '' It is 
he who issues the tickets," and he at once 
frowned on the project. They requested the 
privilege of paying for their tickets, as they 
paid for their board and lodging furnished un- 



120 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

der the same management. This request the 
proprietor refused to grant, and M. de Gaspa- 
rin, in spite of more than one invitation, has 
refused in turn to attend. He resolved not to 
be indebted for even so much as music to that 
infamous resort where so many souls are lost 
and so much happiness destroyed. The or- 
chestra played its sweetest strains, but the Band 
did not attend the concert. 

God had made him a man of peace, his age 
made him a man of war. But in war he simply 
sought after peace. This was the end he has 
tried to the last to attain. 

He has sought for peace in 1870-1871, in the 
last months of his life, amid the wild tumult of 
the fray, when he was attacked with a perfect 
storm of letters, some signed and some unsign- 
ed, which inflict wounds more painful than bul- 
lets. Anonymous letters, those blows of the 
pen from behind, he has rightly styled coward- 
ly. Yet they have never served to lessen his 
courage, for, although wounded, he has still re- 
mained true to his post. He has died a man 
of peace because his life was one stern combat. 



The Man. 121 

Nor did his courtesy, any more than his cour- 
age, desert him. In the thickest of the fray he 
recognized the man behind the implacable foe, 
and respected his personal rights. Intolerance 
has its genesis in uncertain convictions. The 
Christian, whose faith is unshaken, can not 
lose his sympathy for the sinner any more than 
he can his love for the truth. " Christian love," 
he has said somewhere, "teaches us to love 
those who hate us, to pray for those who perse- 
cute us. The Gospel rule may be said to be as 
follows : severity toward things, charity toward 
men ; deep compassion for the sinner, uncom- 
promising detestation for sin." Were this rule 
but observed in all our controversies what a 
revolution it would initiate. 

Charitable toward all men, but inexorable in 
the presence of whatever was opposed to his 
principles, he has more than once sacrificed his 
right, never the right. When, however, he did 
yield it was not through cowardice or weakness, 
for, rapidly changing front, he knew how, when 
it became necessary, to assert his rights. 

He was not entirely free from fits of generous 
wrath and righteous indignation. A malicious 



122 Count Ag:^nor de Gasparin. 

attack on what he held most dear was sure to 
swell his indignation into such a powerful 
stream as carried all before it. An unjust, mean, 
or cruel action was sure to put him in a rage. 
There was a moment's outburst of wrath, and 
then he was soon master of himself again. 

One Sunday, at Valleyres— it was at the time 
of the violent persecutions against the Free 
Church — a certain cowardly official charged, 
club in hand, upon a young woman who was 
leaving the chapel, and struck her. The spec- 
tators looked on without making the slightest 
attempt to interfere. The Count de Gasparin, 
who had come up to the scene of the outrage, 
seized the coward by the waist, lifted him from 
his feet, and threw him — out of pity for his 
bones, as he afterward said — upon a heap of 
muck; while M. Ed. Boissier, coming upon the 
other side, completed the work by throwing him 
this time at full length on the pavement, much 
to the astonishment of the villagers, who were 
surprised to see that the gentlemen knew how 
to use their fists so well. This incident was of 
great value to the people of Valleyres, for it 
taught them to have less fear for the bully, and 



The Man. 123 

it was likewise beneficial to the bully himself to 
be treated for once according to his deserts, for 
he learned first to respect and then to love the 
men who had thrashed him. On his death-bed 
he has asked them to come and pray with him, 
received their ministrations with gratitude, and 
to all outward appearances died reconciled to 
God. 

The cases in which he has rendered such serv- 
ices to the dying are by no means rare. Very 
many infidels, refusing in their last moments 
the services of a regularly ordained clergyman, 
have eagerly listened to the sympathetic coun- 
sels of this layman whose faith was so strong. 
A Christian hearing of his death has exclaimed : 
** I had counted on him to soothe my dying 
hours!" 

M. de Gasparin has been acquainted with 
grief. He has known what it was to stagger 
under a load of sorrow. 

In the latter part of the autumn of 1857 he 
had just returned from one of his short trips, 
when he was suddenly summoned to Orange, 
where his dearly beloved uncle, M. Auguste de 



124 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

Gasparin, was dying of a slow and painful dis- 
ease. M. and Mme. Gasparin set out imme- 
diately, and did not quit the chamber of sick- 
ness until death had furnished a glad release to 
the sufferer, whose convictions, hopes, fervent 
prayers, and unfaltering faith that they should 
soon meet where there is no more parting, con- 
nected him by the closest ties with the little 
group that gathered around his dying bed. This 
uncle, a man of marked originality, had inspired 
his nephew from the cradle with a love for the 
Ideal, and it was the faith of the nephew which, 
brilliant as the noonday sun, illuminated the 
last hours of the uncle. 

Some weeks later the same sad scenes of suf- 
fering and death were enacted at Rivage. 

M. Boissier, the father-in-law of M. de Gas- 
parin, was attacked with a fatal illness. A man 
warm-hearted and sympathetic ; of great orig- 
inality, unbounded liberality, and the keenest 
intelligence ; extremely simple in his habits, 
and devoted to children, he has lived on terms 
of the closest intimacy with the Count Adrien 
de Gasparin, the father-in-law of his daughter. 
Twenty years of constant intercourse in the 



The Man. 125 

house at Paris or under the same roof at Rivage, 
the finished courtesy of each as well as their 
great similarity in taste and temperament, had 
served to knit the ties of friendship more 
closely. From 1848 to the day of his death the 
children of M. Boissier have lived under his 
roof, and it was they who gathered around his 
death-bed. The Count Agenor de Gasparin, in 
the anguish of the last parting, reproached him- 
self for not having been as dutiful as he might. 
The old man, lifting himself up a little, replied, 
with a voice which seemed to gain sudden 
strength : '''•Agenor, you have been the best of 
sons-in-law r Then he added, turning toward 
his son and daughter and her husband, " Good- 
night all," and the hands were clasped for the 
last time. 

Life is, after all, but a pilgrimage. Sweet are the 
greetings, but, oh, how bitter are the partings ! 

In 1862 he had just left Valleyres, where he 
had had the satisfaction of entertaining his fa- 
ther for two months, when on his arrival at 
Vienna, he was informed by a telegram that 
his father had suffered from a sudden stroke of 
apoplexy. An earlier attack some years before 



126 Count Agienor de Gasparin. 

had threatened his life, and left him in an invalid 
condition, although he still retained the unim- 
paired use of his faculties. M. and Mme. de 
Gasparin hastened at once to Orange. Death 
is only a temporary victory of the Destroyer. 
The believer knew this, but the son wept. 

Two years later — in 1864 — the unveiling of 
the statue erected to the memory of the famous 
scientist, brought together at Orange a large 
gathering of savants. At the invitation of the 
two brothers this distinguished body of men ad- 
journed to the church, when the Count Agenor 
de Gasparin occupied the pulpit. He spoke 
with all the earnestness of conviction and all 
the pathos of deep feeling. It was probably 
the first time that some of the audience had 
heard the Gospel. 

A gentleman who had frequently met Gaspa- 
rin, once said to his brother-in-law : " But do 
you not know of some flaw in his character ? " 
" I have never been able to discover any so 
long as I have lived with him, and that is for 
more than thirty years," was the reply of M. 
Ed. Boissier. 



The Man. 127 

I, who have now reached the ciose of a long- 
life, and have seen the heart of hearts of many 
men, am ready to say in all sincerity, that I 
have known only one other Christian — J. L. 
Micheli, and he died at a comparatively early 
age — who so nearly reached perfection. Both 
of these men had only their social position in 
common, for they differed widely in character 
and ability, in their habits and disposition. 

Diversity in unity is what the Gospel accom- 
plishes. The world and the philosopher pre- 
tend to accommodate all men to the same 
standard, but the Gospel fears not to give full 
scope to every variety of character. Without 
the prism there can be no spectrum. 



THE LAST WINTER 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE LAST WINTER. 

During the last two years of his life the 
Count Agenor deGasparin has suffered a severe 
trial, which, by making an entire change in his 
mode of life necessary, threatened to seriously 
interfere with his work. He had magnificent 
eyes, soft, yet brilliant and piercing. Up to the 
end of the autumn of 1869 he had been in the 
habit of reading and writing during a greater 
portion of the day, and in addition of reading 
aloud in the evening by the light of a lamp. 
His sight all at once began to fail him, and the 
disease made rapid strides. When his eyes first 
commenced to trouble him it was a sore afflic- 
tion. To have his eyesight impaired meant to 
read no more, to give up the execution of those 
grand projects for study he had formed, and to 
forego the completion of certain manuscript. 
After a bitter struggle, he has said to himself: 
" Well, I will change my mode of life. I will 

(131) 



132 Count Ag:enor de Gasparin. 

visit the poor more frequently, and write less or 
not at all." But such was not the will of God. 
Dr. Recordon, of Lausanne, a skillful oculist, and 
devoted friend of the family, advised him to 
acquire the habit of being read to, and to ac- 
custom himself to the use of an amanuensis,* 
and he resolved to follow this sound advice. 
A born orator, and accustomed to reduce his 
thoughts to writing only when they were fully 
fashioned, the effort cost him less than it would 
have another. His strong will conquered, and 
his thoughts were after this reduced to writing at 
the cost of less personal labor, but with no dim- 
inution of their strength. Nevertheless, his suffer- 



* To the end God permitted him to conduct by himself 
his social and business correspondence, to take down his 
own notes on scraps of paper, and to read his Bible. For 
the purpose of dictation he employed M. Ph. Besson, a 
young watch-maker, who left his trade to wait on him. 
M. Vannod, the tutor at Valleyres, has also devoted a few 
hours each day to his service. He also occasionally em- 
ployed M, G. Widmer, a vine-dresser, an intelligent and 
warm-hearted man, v/ho on one occasion said, speaking 
of a few weeks spent with M. de Gasparin : " I could not 
have stayed with him much longer or I should never have 
been able to leave him." Toward one and all he enter- 
tained a sincere and Christian affection. 



The Last Winter. 133 

ing was intense. It seemed to him as if the light 
of the sun had suddenly gone out. To read to 
him was always a delightful task, but that pen- 
etrating voice, which fascinated all who heard its 
interpretation of the great works of the great 
masters, would be heard no more. It was at this 
time, although he was in his sixtieth year, that he 
has learned by heart hundreds and hundreds of 
pieces of poetry. Instead now of reading them, 
he recited them. The weakness of his eyes in- 
creasing, a murmur sometimes escaped his lips, 
but he soon learnt to undergo the trial with 
patience and resignation. 

The terrible year of 1870 — the doleful year, as 
he called it, which witnessed the first intimations 
of coming war — had arrived, bringing in its train 
a succession of unprecedented disasters and 
crushing defeats, the loss of two provinces, and 
the slaughter of her children. If ever an insen- 
sate war cost a people dearly, it was this one. 
France, in her infatuation and haughty pride, 
rushed blindly on to ruin. 

M. de Gasparin was then at Gais, in Appen- 
zell. The political horizon had assumed a strange 



134 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

complexion, the official demands were ludicrous, 
and the diplomatic negotiations gloomy and 
threatening — but a war ! It was an apprehen- 
sion past belief. Surely there were not men 
sinful enough, nor fools rash enough to hurl 
upon Europe such an infernal tempest. 

When the certain and frightful news was re- 
ceived it was a terrible blow for him. One hope 
alone remained in that soul too courageous to 
despair. France would arise and say, " I do 
not wish it." In France there must still be 
men whose spirit the despotism of the Empire 
had not yet crushed out, and with a single 
effort he wrote his *' Declaration of War." The 
Journal of Debate refused to publish it, and 
this was the first disappointment. Others soon 
followed. " Before being conquered France will 
shed her last drop of blood. On to Berlin ! " 
such was the shout of the infatuated nation. 

The prophetic book obtained only rare and 
feeble expressions of assent, and its memory 
was soon lost. All cowered before the reality 
of facts. Yet he did not flinch, although his 
sufferings were keen. To burn with a passion- 
ate devotion for one's country, and to see her 



The Last Winter. 135 

incapable of manly resistance ; to stand erect 
when all cringe ; to speak of national honor' 
when the nation treads honor beneath her feet \ 
to appeal to conscience, when conscience is 
dead ; to propose peace, when the heavens re- 
sound with wild cries for war and blood, re- 
quires a heroism which must be able to patiently 
endure, and rare indeed is such courageous self- 
sacrifice. 

Then came the series of defeats when the 
blood of France was poured out in vain on the 
field of battle. It was at this time-December 
1870-that he published "The Neutral Repub- 
1.C of Alsace." In Alsace it produced some 
effect, and his advice was asked. He knew on 
good authority that there was a chance for 
Alsace to remain neutral had she wished it, but 
the clerical party did not wish it. This party 
had wished for war at the outset, and the war 
continued. 

In February, 1871, after the defeat of Bour- 
baki, when the enemy were advancing with rapid 
strides and the armies of France were evacuat- 
ing city after city and the "last man and horse 
were to be sacrificed," he uttered his final cry, 



136 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

the "Appeal to Patriotism and Good Sense." 
No one heeded it, but these three books will 
remain as the great protests of a great prophet, 
and whoever reads them will find in their pages 
far-sighted predictions which every subsequent 
event has tended to verify. 

The capture of Paris caused him less pain 
than the moral degeneracy of France. The 
acts of the Commune filled him with despair. 
The siege and final capitulation of Paris was 
the humiliation of France, the Commune was 
her debasement. Attacked and threatened on 
all sides, yet invincible in his stern love for his 
country, he has drained the bitter cup to the 
dregs, but to the end he has spoken the truth ! 

During the gloomy months of the war he 
had prepared that book which bears the name 
of the France he so dearly loved — a book re- 
plete with courage, hope, and faith. It was an 
earnest plea addressed to his fellow-countrymen 
for the pursuit of truth, for a purer morality 
and more conscientious life, for the preservation 
of justice and real greatness — in short for the 
Gospel, to sum it all up in a single sentence. 
France was bruised and bleeding, but it would 



The Last Winter. 137 

be only for an hour. Hope would soon return, 
and with hope renewed energy. It is out of the 
faith of such men that God forges conquerors. 

There is a note written toward the end of his 
life in the large letters which the weakness of 
his eyes forced him to use, and which, discov- 
ered after the publication of '' France," was 
originally intended to close the last page. " I 
have finished my task. Later it will be seen 
that I have spoken the truth. Will it be too 
late?" 

No, it was not too late. France, learning the 
truth of his words, has arisen from her abase- 
ment. Oh, how the heart of this loyal French- 
man would have throbbed with joy had it been 
permitted him to be a witness of this splendid 
effort. His works, read everywhere, and the 
unfettered tones of his voice, have contributed 
in no small degree toward bringing about this 
result. The lips are sealed, but the heart still 
beats. The life of the patriot is immortal, and 
death does not end his work. 

In February it was his good fortune to perform 
a very pleasurable task. M. and Mme. de Gas- 



138 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

parln were then spending the winter at Valleyres. 
On the 30th of January he yielded, in spite of 
his morbid condition of mind, to several urgent 
invitations, and took part in an entertainment 
at Orbe, where he gave a recitation, for he had 
not the heart to speak on current events. Two 
days later the floor of the hall, which a short 
time before had been filled to overflowing, was 
covered with the mattresses of the ambulances 
on which the sick, emaciated, and half-frozen 
soldiers lay. On all sides might be heard the 
incoherent cries of the delirious, or the groans 
of the wounded and dying, which were wrested 
by intense pain from unwilling lips. But on 
that evening a more cheerful light illumined 
the sad scene. For an hour and a half the 
Count de Gasparin, his tall and noble figure 
dimly seen in the shaded light, recited the mas- 
terpieces of Hugo, Moliere,* Lamartine, and 
Musset. His hearers, even the children, were 
enchanted. 

While the army of Bourbaki, which was in 
hot pursuit of the German troops, was hurled 



* "Tartuffe." 



The Last Winter. 139 

back upon the Swiss, an inexplicable silence sur- 
rounded all the movements of the army. Usually 
the Count de Gasparin set out toward noon for a 
walk across the fields. The ravens, whom he daily 
fed, used to follow in his track, but during the 
last days of January they entirely disappeared, 
and the family at the manor said : " A table has 
been spread for them on some field of battle on 
the other side of the Jura." The air was filled 
with ominous sounds, and the discharge of artil- 
lery was frequently heard coming from afar off 
like the rumbling of thunder behind the mount- 
ain. A heavy fall of snow covered the ground. 
Every day they went out in search of news. 
On the 1st of February, as they were on their 
way to Yverdon, they were met by two or three 
French troopers on full gallop. It is a retreat. 
The village of Yverdon was full of the officers 
of Bourbaki, and the main body of the army 
was yet to come. At the manor the staff offi- 
cers of a regiment of light infantry were quar- 
tered, who were making hasty preparations to 
lodge and feed the troops. Soon they see de- 
scending the slopes of the Swiss side of the Jura 
Mountains the ragged columns of tired, sick, 



140 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

and half-frozen soldiers who filled the little vil- 
lage to overflowing with their numbers. About 
nine o'clock the rest of the regiment, composed 
almost entirely of mere boys, had arrived, happy 
at finding a good supper, comfortable lodgings, 
and a hearty welcome in store for them. 

At midnight — the barns and outhouses were 
full of soldiers — M. and Mme. de Gasparin re- 
tired to their parlor, thanking God for having 
permitted them to administer to the wants of 
these poor refugees. They had obtained the 
names of the soldiers, and Mme. de Gasparin 
was sitting down to write to their families, when 
the door was opened. " Monsieur, more staff 
officers." This time it is the Count Tascher de 
la Pagerie, a cousin of the emperor, accompa- 
nied by eight or ten officers. Where shall they 
put them ? what shall they give them ? There 
is nothing left, neither food nor beds. To 
wake up the brave foot-soldiers, who slept as 
if they had not slept for twenty years, was a 
proposition entitled to no consideration. They 
asked the Count Tascher de la Pagerie and 
staff to occupy the dining-room for the present, 
and put upon the table whatever bedclothes 



The Last Winter. 141 

they could find which had not already been put 
to use. There was in the village a little cot- 
tage which belonged to M. and Mme. de Gas- 
parin, and of which they had not thought. 
*' Let us go there," he said to his wife, " they 
can now take care of themselves." The officers 
are rather formal in their manner, for they know 
who it is that gives them shelter. They at the 
manor also know that the party to which they 
belong is that one which has wrought the ruin 
of France. But the Count de Gasparin was too 
much of a gentleman to give a cold reception. 
His greeting was cordial, and the next day he 
heartily shook hands with the Count Tascher 
as, at the head of his regiment, he rode away 
on horseback to the depot of Yverdon. 

This, however, was only the advance-guard 
of the defeated army. On the third and fourth 
of the same month the main body hastened 
into the province by every mountain path ; sol- 
diers with uncertain gait and wild looks as if 
worn out with fear and fatigue. The place of 
Tascher was supplied by the staff officers of a 
corps belonging to the Zurichois allies, and the 



142 Count Ag:enor de Gasparin. 

French infantry occupied every available place. 
In the barns the mingled chat of French, Ger- 
man, and Arabic might be heard, and those for 
whom no accommodations could be found were 
supplied with bread, soup, cheese, and a glass 
of wine. The question of rations was becoming 
a serious one, for they no longer knew where to 
obtain flour and meat and vegetables. It is im- 
possible for twenty thousand soldiers to be sud- 
denly quartered upon a small district without 
causing great distress. There were no longer 
accommodations for any more, and yet more 
were constantly coming.* 

It now became necessary to forewarn the 
mayor, or he would turn the entire army on 
the manor. M. de Gasparin hastened to the 
mayor, resolved to stay the flood. In a few 
minutes he returned, and in response to his 
wife's question as to the result of the interview, 
he said : " I found the poor mayor in the depths 
of despair, and I told him to send to us all 



* M. Frangois Allen, a devoted servant of the family, 
has displayed on this occasion a rare ability in the dis- 
charge of the duties of purveyor. 



The Last Winter. 143 

those for whom he could make no other pro- 
vision. * 

Early the next day M. and Mme. de Gaspa- 
rin returned to Orbe. On the road, which was 
covered with a heavy fall of snow, they were 
met at each step by a straggling company of 
soldiers shaking with fever, and suffering from 
cold and hunger. 

"Do you see that cottage below?'* they 
would ask. " Go there, and you will find what 
you most need." 



* The inhabitants of Valleyres, Ranees, and the neigh- 
boring villages received the lame and sick with open arras. 
The year had been anything but a prosperous one, and 
there was not much to offer, but what little there was 
they freely gave. The largest sausages were put in the 
pan and the best potatoes on the table, and there was no 
stint to the donations of milk and cheese and bread. They 
freely shared their beds, and more than one slept on the 
floor, or in the hay-loft, in order that some maimed sol- 
dier might be comfortably couched. The more wealthy 
citizens were not less generous in their hospitality. At 
Montcherand a bureau of very modest young ladies super- 
intended the distribution of the warm soup. The Canton 
of Vaud seemed to many an invalid to be a sort of Para- 
dise, and many have had but one idea — that of returning 
to it at some time. Alas ! poor souls, here, as elsewhere, 
one must work would he eat. 



144 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

As they neared the outskirts of Orbe the 
spectral figures grouped around the bivouac 
fires suggested a prophetic thought to the mind 
of M. de Gasparin. " These poor fellows," he 
exclaimed, " will spread disease in their track. 
The country will be poisoned." 

In the meanwhile a wing of the manor had 
been converted into a temporary hospital, and 
a large wagon, provided with folding steps and 
comfortably lined with mattresses, was sent out 
on the road leading to France to seek for the 
wounded, and it always returned with a full 
load.* Very soon typhoid fever and the vario- 
loid broke out, and on the 6th of February the 
ambulances arrived, which, to the great regret 
of the poor invalids themselves, had come in 
search of the typhoid patients and those sick 



* This enterprise was by no means an easy one, for 
companies of cavalry and infantry were constantly scour- 
ing the road between Orbe and Montcherand, and it was 
necessary to make a detour across the fields, covered as 
they were with snow, which sometimes reached up to the 
hub of the wheels. Two strong horses drew the wagon, 
and Ferrand, the skillful coachman of M. de Gasparin, 
throwing his whole heart into the work, conducted the 
expedition. 



The Last Winter. 145 

with the varioloid and scurvy. As soon as the 
invalids had been comfortably arranged in the 
ambulances and supplied with a piece of bread 
and small slice of beef, M. de Gasparin, passing 
from one sick soldier to another, and taking 
their pale hands in his, gave each some little 
gift — bashful as he always was when doing some 
charitable action. The manor still retained the 
charge of those who were sick with dysentery 
and bronchitis, and those whose feet had been 
frozen as well as many others in addition. 

He had truly foretold the result. The con- 
tagious diseases spread with terrible rapidity, 
and cut short the most precious lives — his 
own among the number. The atmosphere was 
charged with the most deadly exhalations, but 
to run the risk of incurring disease in order to 
minister to the wants of the sick was esteemed 
by him a happy privilege. Moreover, there was 
yet another reason for his so doing. Each day 
he conducted in the hospital a simple religious 
service, to which the soldiers gladly listened, 
although very many, alas ! had but little thought 
beyond the affairs of their regiment, the chances 
of promotion, the large soup-tureen, and the 
10 



146 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

piece of meat in the savory soup. It was to 
such as these that M. de Gasparin referred, 
when he once said : " I must find a soul for 
them." There was conversation as well as the 
reading of the Gospel, while on the table lay 
the envelopes and paper with which a corre- 
spondence on a gigantic scale was carried on. 
The pale faces wore a brighter look now, and 
the bloodless lips were seen to smile once more, 
for the brave soldiers felt that they were loved, 
and they loved in return. Some of them de- 
clare to this day, that they shall never forget 
the words which the Count de Gasparin has 
spoken to them. 

The month of February was spent in attend- 
ing to the needs of the sick who occupied the 
improvised hospital at Valleyres, and in visiting 
the sick at Orbe. In this latter place he also 
had the art — and the secret of this art was 
naught else than his cheerful disposition — of 
winning the attention of the invalids. As soon 
as he appeared they would raise themselves 
upon their beds, and even those who usually 
feigned sleep at the first intimation of a serious 



The Last Winter. 147 

talk, were very quickly all attention as soon as 
they became aware of his presence."^ 

By the 1st of March the last of the invalids 
remaining at Valleyres were sent back to the 
central hospital at Yverdon by the same wagon 
which had brought them. Each one before 
starting was supplied with cigars, chocolate, and 
a bottle of cordial. A copy of the Bible had 
been given them all on the first day of their 
arrival. 



* In those wards of the hospital to which the typhoid 
patients had been assigned, Mme. Malth, Mile. M. Hos, 
and Mile. E. Duff dressed with their own hands the most 
loathsome wounds. M. Cavin, who had received his ap- 
pointment from the municipal authorities, superintended 
with unfailing skill and kindness the material part of the 
work, to which M. Wehrli, Jr., brought a thorough self- 
consecration, and M. Duperrex, the pastor, a sympathetic 
and Christian heart. The patients in all cases heartily 
welcomed the visitors, whose conversation helped to while 
away the long and tedious hours of suffering. It was the 
same way in the other cities which had given shelter to 
the invalids. At Neuchatel the ladies — among whose 
number was Mme. M. Abr, a niece of M. and Mme. de 
Gasparin — performed the same kind offices for the sick. 
Disease contracted in these ministrations has cut down 
many of these faithful servants of Jesus. 



148 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

It was now necessary to disinfect the house, 
and so they remained a few weeks longer. 

Mme. de Gasparin, haunted by gloomy pre- 
sentiments, had no difficulty in persuading her 
husband to prolong his stay In these dearly 
loved places where the bloom of spring-time 
was succeeding the dreariness of winter. They 
used to take long walks together now at the 
foot of the mountain, where the clusters of 
yellow primrose and blue liverwort were form- 
ing a fit carpet for this beautiful garden of God. 
Or they would wander over Suchet, touched 
here and there with snowflakes, but blooming 
with the crocus wherever the snow had left 
the ground. In this way have they said eternal 
farewells. 

On the 17th of March a few friends came to 
the manor to assist in the celebration of the 
thirty -fourth anniversary of their marriage. 
Never had M. de Gasparin been so light-hearted 
as then. He thought himself still young, and 
with good reason, for the years had but lightly 
touched him. '' When in reading,'' he exclaimed, 
" I find the word old joined to those two other 
Vfox^^^ sixty years ^ I am thunderstruck. It re- 



The Last Winter. 149 

quires a few minutes of reflection before I can 
comprehend that that is my own age." 

The departure for Geneva was delayed for a 
few days longer. M. de Gasparin, who seemed 
to have gained a new lease of life, looked upon 
the delay as a trivial circumstance, but his wife 
regarded it as the criminal condemned to death 
might regard a reprieve. He laughed at her 
fears. " What is there so terrible in a short 
stay at Rivage ?" he asked ; and then he added, 
" In six weeks we will come back again." But 
there are some souls, whose love and sufferings 
and misgivings would seem to have imparted 
to them an intuitive insight into the future. As 
if the misfortunes in store for them cast a heavy 
shadow upon them long before the blow actually 
fell. It seemed to Mme. de Gasparin as if to 
leave Valleyres were to leave Eden forever. 
Her heart was chilled with a vague fear when 
the time for their departure arrived. " I am 
marching to the scaffold," she said, while her 
friends laughed at her fears. 

On the day they left Valleyres M. de Gaspa- 
rin received a fresh attack of the fever the 
soldiers had left behind. The two travelers 



150 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

ended their journey in a bitter, piercing wind, 
which, from Geneva, where they left the train, 
to Valleyres, whither an open carriage brought 
them, blew full in their faces, chilling them 
through and through. 

The change in his health was far from mak- 
ing him low-spirited. Up to the end did he 
retain his frollicking mirth, his tender-hearted- 
ness, his even temper, and unruffled good hu- 
mor. Never in all his life had he been more 
fascinating than at this time. 

God in His mercy has spared His servant the 
anguish of a lingering illness! Even on the last 
day M. de Gasparin did not himself recognize 
the dangerous nature of his malady. He list- 
ened with a keen interest and real delight to 
music and reading, and when his wife, who was 
reading to him, burst out into a sudden flood 
of tears, he steadfastly regarded her with a 
smile full of cheerfulness and hope. He even 
walked in the garden, where the nightingales 
were singing their sweetest, and the trees were 
beginning to bloom, and plunging his face into 
a cluster of fragrant lilacs, he would exclaim : 
" How I love this flower ! " Passing his hands 



The Last Winter. 151 

over his darkened eyes, he recalled with a play- 
ful smile a merry remark of his dearly-loved 
sister-in-law, Mme. Edmond Boissier. Once 
when a visitor was boring them by the uncon- 
scionable length of his call, she had taxed him 
with assuming a bored expression. " Lucile 
would be justified now in saying, ' Agenor, you 
have a bored look,' " he exclaimed. 

He was cheerful even in his sick state, and 
he carefully refrained from every sign of melan- 
choly in order that those about him might not 
become depressed. " Those Christians who are 
constantly complaining, dishonor their profes- 
sion," he was wont to say. 

He would frequently say to her he so dearly 
loved, pressing her hands in his : " We will soon 
sit down together in the heavenly places." The 
heavenly places ! is not this the constant aspi- 
ration of those who love with undying love ? 

When his sufferings became more intense, he 
was heard to exclaim, borrowing the words of 
one of the songs of Schubert : ''Ich grolle nichf 
— I do not complain. 

Surrounded by his most intimate friends he 
would commend his friends in France to their 



152 Count Agenor de Gasparin. 

loving care and prayers. When the crisis was 
past, he rejoiced at the thought of soon meet- 
ing them again in Switzerland, or in their own 
homes. 

Toward evening, on the 13th of May, he 
paced up and down the hornbean alley with 
his beloved wife for the last time. The birds 
were flying from tree to tree making their nests, 
and he repeated those lines : 

''''Be thou like the bird perched upon so^ne frail 
twig, who, although he feels the branch bending 
beneath him, yet loudly sings, knowing full zvell 
that he has wings T 

His wife recalled to his memory those other 
lines which he had penned in a happy mood at 
the close of a beautiful day : 

''''The glories of the sunset tinge the heavens 
with brilliant color. The suit has gone — but zuhat 
matters that ? It will soon return. Is not the 
sleep of each one of tis in a like manner simply 
the preparation for a purer dawn ? " 

His love for the starry heavens and faith and 



The Last Winter. 153 

ardent love were with him to the last hour. 
With a firm step he sought to reach the little 
parlor — the nest of so many happy hours — and 
purposely avoided leaning on the railing as he 
ascended the steps, for fear that this indica- 
tion of increasing weakness might startle her 
who tenderly watched him, pale with grief. 

She wished to walk up behind him. " No," 
he said ; " you know I like to have you go be- 
fore me." Then, having cast one long look at 
the eastern heavens studded with stars, he en- 
tered the house, his face still wearing a happy 
smile, but deathly pale. His malady was mak- 
ing rapid ravages, and severe frontal pains — they 
had recently become of frequent occurrence — 
forced him to lie down. He uttered a last word 
of infinite tenderness to his wife, and fell into a 
peaceful sleep. 

All hope was not yet gone, and their prayer- 
ful eyes were turned toward heaven. Then 
there was a sudden cry, a terrible rattling in the 
throat, two convulsive throes of the body, and 
at two and a half o'clock in the morning all was 
over. This was the 14th of May, 1871. 



154 Count Agienor de Gasparin. 

If the years are to be recorded by the strength 
of the affections, by the profitable employment 
of the allotted time, by the work accompHshed, 
the Count Agenor de Gasparin has lived far 
more than sixty-one years.* 

He has died at the post of honor on the field 
of battle, in the service of his Master, and in 
the performance of a task the most humble, 
and yet the most glorious. He has died as he 
has lived — in peace, and peace filled his heart. 
She was his companion to the last moment of 
his life. The heritage of the strong, she will 
blossom only in the soil of truth. 

His faith has never wavered. In the forum 
or Senate Chamber, in the deserts of the East, 
or amid the bitter struggles which convulsed all 
Europe, it was always radiant, and gained fresh 
strength day by day. A Christian, whose heart 
was filled with peace, and fired with love for 
God, for man, and the truth, he has ascended 
to the gate of the Heavenly City where Jesus 
stood ready to receive him. 

On the 1 6th of May, kind neighbors and 



* His age was sixty years and eight months. 



The Last Winter. 155 

friends, with unaffected grief, laid his body in 
its final resting-place in the family burying-plot 
at Valleyres, near the church in which he had 
been married. Some of the most lowly of this 
earth — yet it was such as these he sincerely 
loved — as they stood around the open grave, 
could not refrain from bitterly weeping for him 
whom they had known and loved. 

On one side of the marble slab erected to his 
memory these words are engraven : "/ know in 
whom I have believed^ They might have put 
on the other side with equal truth : '^/ have 
fought the good fight r In this simple sentence 
lies the whole secret of the moral grandeur of 
the Count de Gasparin. 

France, land generous and fertile, thou hast 
lost one of thy most noble sons. He has never 
flattered thee, because he has loved thee with 
a holy love — the love of a son who wishes to 
see his mother happy and respected. Thy mis- 
fortunes have been his sorrows. For thee his 
voice has been lifted in fervent and constant 
prayer to Him who holds the destiny of nations 
in His hands. 

This life we have just sketched : these early 



156 Count Agi^nor de Gasparin. 

years full of promise, these first yearnings for 
liberty, this conquering faith, this stern battle 
whose only end was peace, this full consecration 
to the eternal cause of truth — shall all this be 
but a fleeting meteor whose light is forever 
quenched on this side of the grave ? 

No ; something will remain for the genera- 
tions yet to come. What it has been permitted 
this man to realize by faith, all can accomplish 
with the same help according to their ability. 
The gifts and position vary infinitely, but the 
duty is the same, and the law of obligation 
which is imposed upon every member of the 
human family, renders us all alike responsible 
to God. One can serve God as well in the cot- 
tage as in the palace, in the deep darkness of 
the mine as in the sunlight, in adversity and 
upon the bed of sickness as in prosperity and 
health. 

Youth of France, I inscribe here the battle- 
cry of the Count Agenor de Gasparin : " UP- 
WARD AND Onward!" 



ALHAMBRA AND THE KREMLIN (The). The 
North and the South of Europe, including Spain. 
Switzerland, Russia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Po- 
land, and Denmark. By Samuel Irenasus Prime. 
Sixty-two illustrations. 8vo. Cloth, $3.00. 

Dr. Prime "brings the experience of a veteran traveler to the de- 
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Highly intellectual and refined in its tone. — Art Journal. 

THROUGH NORMANDY. By Katherine S. Macquoid. 
Illustrated by Thomas R. Macquoid. 90 illustrations. 
12mo. Cloth, $1.50. 

We need hardly tell our readers that the region to which this vol- 
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The book has a field of its own. It will be read with 
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WHITE AS SNOW. By Edward Garrett, au- 
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A cluster of half a dozen stories in as many chapters. 
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18mo. Cloth, red edges, $1.00. 16mo. Paper, 50 

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As a whole, for a little book it excels. The tears would 
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lound laugh. Get Faith and Fsitieiice.—jProvide7ice Press. 

ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & CO., 

900 BROADWAY, COR. 20th ST., NEW YORK. 
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THE 



LITTLE SANCTUARY. 

AND 

OTHER MEDITATIONS. 



Br ALEXANDER RALEIGH, D.D. 



Dr. Wm. M. Tatloe, in The Christian at WorTc^ says z 
" The author is a prince among living English preachera. 

His style is exquisitely finished, and there is a calm, quiet 

fulness in its flow." 

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" One of the most edifying and delightful of practical 
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His style is refined and elegant, and his treatment of ex- 
oerimental subjects is discriminating. A third edition of 
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books." 

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tian a book." — Presbyterian. 

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tations."— 7%e Advance. 

" Good from beginning to end."— 7%e Churchman. 

*' Warm and generous in tone." — The Congregationalist. 

12mo, cloth, price $1.25. May be obtained of the book- 
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t>y the publishers, 

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